Someone Else's Story
by Michelle Lancaster
Summary: For seven years, she was Sheik. This is the story of her identity and destiny, and all she did to help save the world. Complete and reedited
1. Prophecy

Disclaimer: All the characters and stuff belong to Nintendo, not me. But if you didn't know that, what are you doing reading this? And the songs are Garth Brooks "When You Come Back to Me Again" and "The Change."

**Hylian Chronicles: Book One: Someone Else's Story**

**PART ONE**

_There's a moment_

_We all come to_

_In our own time and our own space_

_Where all that we've done_

_We can undo_

_If our heart's in the right place…_

_On a prayer_

_In a song_

_I hear your voice_

_And it keeps me hanging on_

_Oh, raining down_

_Against the wind_

_I'm reaching out_

_'Til we reach the circle's edge_

_And you come back to me again…_

Chapter One—Prophecy

Everything started when I had the dream.

Before that, life was perfect. I was ten years old, and completely happy. I was the crown princess of Hyrule and the angel of my parents' eyes. I had everything I could want, and if there was anything I didn't have, I had only to ask for it.

More than any other single element, what made my life wonderful was Impa. She was my attendant and nurse, the woman who had raised me. My parents loved me, of course, but they were king and queen. The country needed attention. As for other family members, well, there weren't many. Any, I guess. Mom spoke sometimes of her younger sister, my aunt Alea, but it was only to say things like, "I wish Alea could see this." By the time I was ten years old, when everything changed, I had long figured out that Alea, long estranged from her family, had died when I was a baby. My mom still loved her, though…

But I'm leaving the topic.

Impa was one of the last of a race of people called the Sheikah. All our servants were Sheikah, and I thought they were fascinating. They practiced something like magic, but really it was a science, a practice of illusions that anyone could learn. They taught it to me, along with their music and other cultural skills. Impa of course taught me more obviously practical things, like history, that I would need to know for when I became queen, but she encouraged me to learn the arts of the Sheikah as well.

Besides their magic, I could also use real magic, the inborn kind the goddesses gave me when They created me. Part of this magic was clairvoyance and foresight. Impa realized when I was very young that I sometimes had dreams which foretold the future—prophetic dreams, she called them. She told me when I was five that I had special gifts like these, and she thought I was a child of an important destiny. At the time, being such a young child, I thought she simply meant that I would be queen someday, and I wondered why she looked so worried every time she looked at me. Now I know.

It started when I had the dream.

I saw Hyrule— My home, my kingdom, my world of peace. I saw clouds gathering in the west and spreading over all the land, spreading evil and suffering.

Then, in the east, I saw a sunbeam burst through the clouds; it came from the forest, a land I had never seen for myself, but which I knew to be immaculate and untouched by Hylian hands. In this sunbeam stood a figure, one that looked strangely familiar. Two things about him impressed themselves upon my memory: the figure was accompanied by a fairy, and held a large, green emerald. I knew that, whoever this person was, he was to be the salvation of Hyrule. I saw his face clearly, and I knew I would recognize him instantly whenever, wherever I saw him.

But as soon as I woke up, it all faded. I forgot everything about the figure, except the fairy and the emerald. I was also left with unanswerable questions about him; I knew that I recognized the boy's face, but I also knew had never seen him before. He was a child of the forest, after all, so how could I have ever encountered him? Those children lived in isolation, in peace. They would not—_should_ not—ever be involved in matters of such grant scale conflict. If one of the forest people was about to emerge from their haven, then something was about to become seriously wrong with the world of Hyrule.

This nightmare recurred twice more, causing a knot of worry to settle itself sickeningly in my stomach. Each time I fell asleep, I vowed to remember the figure's face, but each time I woke up, I never could. So I decided to find the meaning of the dream in another clue.

I found a picture of the emerald in my encyclopedia. I knew it was the same one; I recognized its elaborate gold setting. It was called the Spiritual Stone of Forest, the Kokiri's Emerald. There were two other Spiritual Stones, and their combined power could open the Door of Time in the Temple of Time to allow a True Hero of wield the Master Sword. Everything made sense. The Kokiri were the peaceful race of fairy people to which the figure in my dream must have belonged, the people of the southeastern forest.

However, this knowledge did nothing to assuage my fears. The goddesses were telling me that the True Hero, the one would could wield the legendary Master Sword, would soon come forth. Some evil was coming, so great that the hero chosen by Them would have to fight it. But what was the evil?

* * *

Too soon, I found the answer to my question.

A few days after I had made my discoveries about the Spiritual Stones, an ambassador came to visit. His name was King Ganondorf Dragmire, of the Gerudo.

"Greetings!" he said grandly, when the guards brought him into our hall. I stood next to my mother's throne and watched him suspiciously. I had no reason to, other than the fact that I had been suspicious of everyone lately, but I did nonetheless. He presented himself with a regal bow.

"If word has not yet reached you, allow me the pleasure of bringing it: The old queen of the Gerudo, Nabooru, has stepped down from the throne. Her successor is none other than myself."

Dad raised an eyebrow. "Nabooru was an ally of ours. Why should we be pleased to hear that she is out of power?"

"For precisely that reason!" Ganondorf said briskly. "Nabooru proposed a union of equals. It was an arrogant idea; our people do not have the resources to exist independently. So it is that I come, requesting that Your Majesty regard us not as an equal partner but a loyal province of your kingdom. I am here to arrange bequeathing our country to you. You may wonder," he went on, "why my first act as king would be to hand my power over to a people with whom my country has never been on close terms… Do you?"

"Indeed," Dad said with a nod. "But I sense you are prepared to offer an explanation?"

"I am. You see, our land unforgiving territory…"

He went on to explain that the Gerudo people were not as wealthy a nation as they appeared to be. Years of pretending in order to keep enemies at bay had in fact left them rather impoverished. As a province of Hyrule, Gerudo Valley could drop the charade. They would be safe from attack, because of our army and peaceful alliance, and could benefit from our thriving economy.

"To assure you that mine is not an offer too good to be true," Ganondorf informed us, "I do have some stipulations… Most importantly, that we retain a provincial government… But we can get into those details later. That is, if you are willing to consider my offer?"

He smiled charmingly, and suddenly I knew. He was the evil.

* * *

Over dinner that night, for which Ganondorf was not present, I told my father what I thought.

"Dad, don't agree to Ganondorf's agreement," I began bluntly.

Dad smiled bemusedly at me, in a way that clearly said he was indulging his little girl's wishes. "Why not, darling?"

"Because I don't believe him. I know he says he's loyal to you, but I had a dream…"

"About Ganondorf?" asked Mom.

"Yes. Well, sort of. In my dream, something evil came from the west. Ganondorf lives in the west, doesn't he? The desert?"

"Yes, but that's hardly proof—"

"I just have a hunch," I interrupted, ignoring decorum in my urgency. "And then something good came from the east and defeated it. I think it was the True Hero… You know, the one chosen by the goddesses and the Master Sword."

My parents were continuing to smile as if humouring some fantasy of mine. "And who do you think that hero was?"

Knowing how farfetched it would sound, prepared to defend my beliefs, I said flatly, "A Kokiri."

My parents exchanged parental looks, then Mom said, "Sweetie…a Kokiri? Someone from the southeastern forest? Are you sure?"

I stuck out my chin with determination. "Yes, I am."

They looked at each other again. I wished they would stop doing that.

"Has Impa taught you about Kokiri?" asked Dad, leaning over the table towards me.

I nodded.

"What has she taught you?"

I shrugged. "Lots of stuff."

"Has she taught you that all Kokiri are children? Forever?"

I nodded.

"And has she taught you that they can't leave the forest?"

I nodded. These were exactly the arguments I had expected, because they were the ones that had run through my own mind several times already. "But she's also taught me that the goddesses are omnipotent, and if Their will is in defiance of everything else, it can still happen," I countered. "Isn't that true, too?"

"Well—yes."

"So if they chose a Kokiri to be the True Hero…the Hero of Time…couldn't it be possible?"

They looked at each other yet again, this time looking more surprised than anything else. It was Mom who spoke next, in the very final tone that only she could master.

"Zelda, listen. Just because you had a nightmare does not mean that Ganondorf is evil and the Hero of Time will soon arise as a Kokiri." The "and that's final" was implied.

"But my dreams are prophetic!" I protested angrily.

Mom's eyes widened and Dad's mouth fell open. "Who told you that?" he demanded.

Their reaction threw me slightly, but I answered without hesitation, "Impa. And it's true."

As Mom shook her head slightly, Dad told me, "Your imagination has been running away with you. We'll be speaking to Impa about it."

* * *

That night, as Impa tucked me in, she didn't tell me my usual bedtime story.

"Zelda," she began instead, "you told your parents about your dreams."

"They talked to you about it, like they said they would," I guessed dully. Impa nodded.

"They told me they don't want you to believe things like that. Things that aren't true, were their words."

"You mean… it's not true that my dreams—"

"Of course it's true. It's just that your parents don't believe it."

"So what can we do?"

"First of all, we pretend we don't believe in your dreams. If they think I'm lying to you and disobeying them, I'll be fired."

I would never want that to happen, even if she had been lying to me. I loved Impa.

"Second, the two of us fight the evil. Ganondorf _is_ evil, I know it, and the True Hero will most likely be a Kokiri. You are right. I'm sure of it. But it's our secret."

* * *

So I acted as though I didn't suspect Ganondorf of a thing—partly so that he wouldn't know I was onto him, and partly so my parents wouldn't know I was. But every night before bed, I said the same prayer.

"Please protect Mom and Dad and Impa and me from Ganondorf, and please send the True Hero to me to protect Hyrule."

Until the hero came, it would be up to me…

Luckily, I didn't have too long to wait. Only two days after Ganondorf arrived, he had another meeting with my father to discuss politics. Under the excuse that I simply wanted some fresh air, I was in a private courtyard, watching him covertly through a window.

Suddenly I heard footsteps.

I turned around, expecting to see Impa or perhaps one of the guards. Instead, I saw a boy of about my own age. He didn't say anything at first, and neither did I, though my heart leapt into my throat in alarm; I just looked at him, unable to speak.

He was dressed in a green tunic and leather boots, and—a fairy sparkled around his head! The instant I saw that fairy, the memories that had eluded me flooded back to my mind. I recognized his face as the one in my dream that I had never managed to recall in my waking hours.

Finding his voice, he managed only to say, "Uh…" before I interrupted him excitedly.

"You!" I gasped. "How did you get past the guards?"

He shrugged, and I caught a glimpse of a sword and shield on his back. "It's not that hard. Just hide, and when they're not looking…run."

I grinned. "You're from the forest, aren't you? You're a Kokiri! You have a fairy! Do you have…an emerald?"

He blinked, furrowing his brow, and reached into his tunic. "How did you know?"

He held in his hand what could only be the Spiritual Stone of Forest.

"Yes…" I breathed. "You're—I've been waiting for you. What's your name?" I asked eagerly.

"I'm Link."

Link… The name sounded familiar. Just as his face had always looked familiar. Even though I had never met him. Maybe it was another forgotten detail of my dream.

"But how did you know I was coming?" he asked.

"Well, I had this dream…"

"You have a dream about me? How is that possible?" He was looking at me apprehensively; I could see him leaning away. It occurred to be that I had shown absolutely no manners at all in my excitement at seeing him.

"I'm so sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Princess Zelda Hyrule."

Link smirked and looked over my clothes, which were adorned with royal insignias. "I figured," he told me. "The whole living in a castle thing kinda gave it away."

"Well, I have dreams that foretell the future. In one recently, a nightmare, I saw you."

"Hey," he interrupted, "I think I had a nightmare about you! Well, you were in it, but you weren't the scary part. There was this man, a big man on a black horse, with red hair and a big gem in his forehead. I didn't get a good look at him."

Gesturing through the window, I asked, "Does he look familiar?"

Link's jaw dropped. "Yes, that's him! Who is he?"

So I told Link everything, especially my dream, and how my father didn't believe me. Link snorted and shook his head.

"That's so stupid. Can't your dad _tell_ he's evil?"

It was strange for me to have anyone speak so casually in my presence, let alone to my face; most people put on airs and manners when addressing me. But then, I reasoned, Link wasn't raised at court. He was a Kokiri, the furthest thing from the son of nobility. I didn't mind, though, because it meant I could relax my usual standards of behaviour, too.

"I know," I sighed, "but it's okay. We can work without him. We just need to make sure Ganondorf doesn't get his hands on the Triforce, the Sacred Triangles of the goddesses. If he does, he can turn the world into a place of evil. We, the Royal Family, treasure the Triforce and one other thing: the Ocarina of Time."

Link gave a small gasp at the word "ocarina." At least, I thought he did, but I might have been imagining things.

"Is something wrong?" I inquired.

"No," he mumbled, looking down. "Keep talking."

Something was distracting him, though he didn't want to talk about it and I couldn't force him. Maybe I was imagining things; at any rate, there were more important things to discuss. I went on.

"The Triforce is in the Sacred Realm. There are only a few ways to get in there, and I've figured something out. If someone gets there before Ganondorf, they could stop him from getting the Triforce. Problem is, I can't leave the castle without permission, but I think you could do it. Besides, it seems like it's your destiny, doesn't it?"

"Really? Cool." Link grinned. "So how do I get there?"

"I've got it all figured out," I told him happily. For days, I had been devising this plan in anticipation of the hero, and I couldn't wait to see it put into action. "First, you need to get the other two Spiritual Stones."

"There's _three_? Aw, man…"

"Of course this isn't going to be easy," I told him with half a sigh. "After you get them, come back here. I'll give you the Ocarina of Time and teach you the Song of Time. Then you go to the Temple of Time, with the Stones, and stand before the Door of Time and play the Song. The Door will open, and you'll find the Master Sword stuck in the Pedestal of Time—"

Link snorted with laughter. "I'm surprised it's not the Sword of Time. And what am I? The… Hero of Time or something?"

I forced a laugh, not wanting to tell him that he was just that. No good could come from scaring him away from his destiny. I also didn't want to tell him that only he, the predestined hero, could wield the Sword.

"Anyway, when you pull out the Sword, you'll be transported to the Sacred Realm. You stay there and keep the Triforce safe from Ganondorf. I'll take care of him in this world."

Link frowned. Clearly it struck him as odd that he, armed with a legendary blade, would be doing nothing while I, a perfect lady and princess, fought evil hands-on. To be honest, it struck me as odd, too. But I had faith in my plan nonetheless.

"Okay…" Link said slowly. "So first I have to get the other two Spiritual Stones, then come back here."

I nodded. "Good luck." _You might need it_. "Impa will help you get out of here without getting caught. Oh, also, here's a letter from me. You can show it to people to prove that you're connected to me."

Link took the letter I gave him and slipped it into his tunic. "Thanks. And goodbye."

I simply nodded, slightly choked up with nervousness. It was really striking me now that this plan I had been imagining would now actually come to fruition.

Impa appeared just then. I saw Link look up at her in awe; she most certainly doesn't look like most people's idea of a royal nursemaid, but that's because she's a Sheikah.

The first part of the task was done; now I just had to wait.

* * *

That night, my prayer was different.

"Please protect Mom and Dad and Impa and me from Ganondorf, and please help Link succeed in his quest. Please keep him safe." _Without him, there's no hope for Hyrule_.

* * *

I don't know how long Link was gone. Every minute seemed interminably long. It was worse because of an incident that happened only two days after his visit.

I was sitting in the courtyard, leaning my elbows on my knees and my chin in my hands, thinking and worrying about Link. It was the same courtyard I'd been in when he's surprised me. I had been spending a lot of time there, memories and thoughts and hopes turning over in my mind like leaves in a breeze. This was the first time, though, that I heard footsteps again. For a wild second, I thought it was him—but I was wrong.

"Why, hello, Princess. I'm sorry. I hope I didn't accidentally wander into some secret garden of yours, some private refuge."

I didn't answer. I looked at him and tried to keep my face impassive, though the sound of his deep voice, dark and bestial, had made my heart begin to pound in foreboding. He wandered along the perimeter of the garden, continuing conversationally as he looked around the courtyard, smiling slightly, like he knew a joke I didn't, as he smelled the flowers and gazed reflectively at his reflection in the stream encircling it.

"What am I saying? This is no private refuge. Just the other day you had a little friend here. A boy…a Kokiri boy, if I'm not mistaken." He chuckled. "Tell me, Princess. Does your father know about your boyfriend? I'm quite sure he'd never approve of the match. You might as well forget it."

My mouth fell open in shock, and I immediately closed it. I felt as if Ganondorf had poured ice water over my heart. He simply smiled more widely, looking friendly enough, but I didn't trust him for a minute. I tried to speak, to say something to deter him.

"I—I don't—"

Suddenly, he dropped the act and approached me angrily, crossing the courtyard in two swift steps, fists clenched. He bent near me and spoke through gritted teeth.

"Listen, Princess, I know you're up to something, you and your boyfriend. Whatever it is, I advise you to drop it. You are kids, and I am king of the most powerful people in Hyrule. Do you understand me? You don't stand a chance."

Finally finding my voice, I snapped furiously. "You're not… Don't you threaten me!"

"Oh, no? What will you do? Tell your daddy? He loves me, even though he knows you hate me. He won't believe you for a second, I promise. He wouldn't, even if I gave you the bruises to back up your story. Do you want to find out if I'm right?"

He made a sharp gesture in my direction; I flinched, and instantly regretted it as he stood straight up and laughed, turning away from me after clearly deciding that I was no threat. I jumped to my feet, determined not to let him make me cower.

"Give it up, Princess! You've lost, and the battle hasn't even begun yet."

I trembled with fury as I watched him walk away. But I couldn't do anything other than glare.

"Oh, Link, hurry…"

* * *

Things only got worse.

Ganondorf and I both knew we were each plotting the demise of the other. We both also know that he had the advantage for many reasons, one of which being that he could act whenever he wanted, and I had to wait for Link.

Not that I wasn't prepared. I took the Ocarina of Time from its usual display case and hid it under my bed, practicing the fingering of the Song of Time over and over again each night, sending quiet, quivering notes out into the night. I wondered if Ganondorf could hear them, and hear that I was threatening him.

Impa had me prepared in case Ganondorf struck first. She showed me where she had hidden a bag of my things, so that I could grab it and run in case of an emergency. That, of course, would only serve to get me away from his initial attack alive; she was also prepared, though, for what would happen once we were out in the world. One night, tucking me in, she told me of her strange plan.

"Zelda… I hope I'm wrong, but I fear we may have to leave this castle someday very soon."

I had suspected this already. In a way, I was coming to terms with it, but to hear Impa talk about it made it more real than all the times I had thought about it. I managed to nod. I managed not to cry.

"We will have to go into hiding, and we will have to hide well, because Ganondorf is strong," she explained gently, maternally tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. "His telepathic consciousness could seek you out. You will have to change your whole identity, and all but forget who you really are."

"You mean… I'll be someone else?" I asked, my voice coming out much more childishly than I would have liked it to. "Forever?"

"No, no, only until Link defeats Ganondorf," Impa reassured me. After a pause, she sighed. "But it could be many years."

I contemplated this. Years of being someone else…

"I've already invented an identity for you," Impa continued. "We will stay with a small band of Sheikah I know, and we will tell them you are named Sheik."

"That's a _boy's_ name!" I objected. "A Sheikah name!"

"Yes, it is, because Ganondorf will be looking for a Hylian girl, not a Sheikah boy. You must never tell anyone—_anyone_—who you are. Even if they are, or at least seem, trustworthy. First of all, this is because we won't know who we can trust. Second of all, and more importantly, this is because Ganondorf's consciousness will find you if you let your guard down."

"What about Link?"

Impa hesitated, then told me, "If you see him before he defeats Ganondorf, as I think you may have to, me must know you only as Sheik."

I didn't move, staring at the blankets laid out over my body and thinking all of this over. I barely knew Link, having only met him once, but I liked him already. I really thought of him as a friend, the type of person I could and would trust with my life… Which I suppose is appropriate, since I was trusting him with the lives of everyone in Hyrule.

* * *

Impa seemed tense the next day, and her worry affected me. Dad must have been blind if he didn't notice the cloud of suspicion that hung thickly over our home.

I had so far seen Ganondorf only in glimpses, our encounter in the courtyard notwithstanding; for the most part he stayed in his chamber when he wasn't in deliberations with Dad. Much to my surprise, however, he joined the household for dinner. All the superior servants, such as the attendants like Impa, also came by invitation.

"I would like to make an announcement," Dad said when we were all seated. "As you all know, King Ganondorf Dragmire and I have been hard at work drawing up the document which we will both sign to unite our kingdoms. I am pleased to inform you all that the Desert Declaration has been completed, and tomorrow we will move out to the Desert Colossus to sign it amid all the proper circumstances."

Everyone applauded loudly, and many people made happy comments about the progress of diplomacy; I, however, felt my heart stop when Dad said the word "tomorrow." That meant that, whatever horrible scheme Ganondorf was plotting, it would happen tonight. Next to me, Impa was visibly taut in every muscle. I met Ganondorf's eye across the table, and he winked at me with a devious smile.

"I have to say something to Dad," I whispered to Impa urgently. She gave the smallest possible shake of her head.

Amid the confusion of the serving of the food, she explained to me quietly, "We can't let anyone know that we suspect Ganondorf. I have told you all this before."

"But—"

"We can't show distrust of your father's allies. It's the same as showing distrust of your father." I could hear in her voice that she hated to hear what she was saying as much as I did, and on some level I knew I shouldn't argue. But we were discussing my parents' lives, my kingdom's peace, my whole world and everything in it.

"But… if Dad doesn't know, how can he stop it?" I hissed, pleading with her desperately. "He can't!"

Impa hesitated. Delicately, thinking as she spoke, she told me, "Our primary concern is your safety, and the best thing for your safety is to keep the secret we have been keeping, to stay united, and to be ready…for anything. Together. We don't stand a chance apart."

I stared at my plate. It was piled with good food, top quality Sheikah cooking, but I wasn't hungry at all.

"I'm scared, Impa."

"So am I, Zelda."


	2. Darkness

Chapter Two—Darkness

I didn't sleep that night. I didn't even lie down. I sat on my bed with the Ocarina in my hands, listening to the gentle music in my mind and the penetrating, smothering silence of the world around me. I knew there was a good chance this would be the last night I spent in the castle that had always been my home. My nerves were stretched to the breaking point as I waited for something, anything, to push me over the edge I hovered by. I was shaking.

The dark of the night was complete, uninterrupted and still except by the sound of my breathing. But within me, it was far from peaceful, and I knew this turmoil would soon manifest itself externally.

And then I heard a voice shouting something, from outside the front of the castle. A man's voice; Ganondorf's. And a woman's voice answered him. I couldn't make out the words, but I knew it could be nothing good.

My heart began to pound in my chest, and my head began to spin. No, it couldn't be happening now, it couldn't, it couldn't…

It happened in an explosion—

"MOVE!"

A roar of noise—

"ATTACK!"

—battle cries that shook the castle—

"DIN'S POWER!"

We were under siege.

The castle awoke at once, and in an instant all was chaos. I wanted to curl up in my bed and squeeze my eyes shut and pretend nothing was happening as it all came crashing down around me, but I knew I couldn't.

"ZELDA!"

My bedroom door flew open, and there was Impa, fully dressed but looking perfectly composed—except her eyes. Her eyes always gave her away, and they were filled with terror. She held in her hand the bag she had prepared for me.

"Zelda, we have to move," she told me sternly, crossing the room and taking the Ocarina from me, shoving it into the bag.

"What's happening?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"The Gerudo army is here."

My breath quickened in my lungs. Impa's words disappeared in a sea of screams as the waves of soldiers broke through our defences.

"_NO_!"

I suddenly found the energy to run bursting inside me, and I did.

Impa pushed me along as I sprinted out of my bedroom and down the hall. She had told me that in the event this happened, I was to simply get out the fastest way possible. There would be soldiers everywhere, so there was no sense in trying to find a safe route. There wasn't one. I had known this would be true, but the reality of it—

I saw people, bodies struggling against each other, running and jumping and manoeuvring and falling. There were cries of rage and cries of pain, and they all assaulted my ears in such a stream that they blended into a cacophony of murder and bloodshed. There were no distinct images, because I wasn't looking at anything. I was just running, pushing my body as hard as I could so that I barely noticed Impa's footsteps and harsh breathing just behind me, or the blood pounding through my veins, my head—

I flew down a set of spiral stairs and came out into a main room, one I referred to as the procession hall. Out of nowhere, I heard one scream rend the air, coming from the balcony directly above my head. I stopped in panic, looked up, and saw a lifeless body tumbling down. It fell before me…one of my mother's attendants, her throat slit, her neck bent at a painful angle, her eyes wide and blank like a deer's. To see the face of someone I knew, suddenly so different… I had never imagined that death could change someone so dramatically… I felt myself grow faint. I had never seen death before.

All this happened in less than a second, and then two Gerudo soldiers dropped down next to the body. The were dressed in the typical clothes of the desert people, wearing pants like men would, their bronze skin shining with the effort of the fight, though they showed no signs of fatigue in their pitiless eyes. Their fiery hair was pulled back in ponytails that swung behind them like the two curved blades they each wielded with such grace that the weapons seemed mere extensions of their arms. They landed lightly, like dancers, and I had no time to react before one of them had swung her deadly gleaming sword at me—

I felt someone's arm around my waist, and barely had time to take in that it was clad in the silver armour of the Sheikah instead of the bright fabric of the Gerudo before it had swung me up from the ground and started running. Impa clutched me tightly to her, holding her riding crop in her other hand. I had never known her to feel so cold before.

"We can't stop for anything, Zelda, not anything," she told me, her words short.

It was all passing me by in a whirl of colours… The men in silver armour, each with a straight blade and a shield, were our soldiers; the women in fiery, desert clothes, each with scimitars they used both to attack and defend, were the enemy. Ganondorf was nowhere. Neither were my mother and father.

My mother and father…

I heard Impa suddenly cry out in anger, and she dropped me. I crumpled to the floor, taken aback by the sudden fall, and rolled onto my back to see her engaged in combat with another desert woman. She was using her riding crop as a shield, catching her opponent's blades and turning them aside with surprising ease, and had drawn a short sword with her other hand.

I watched, transfixed, unaware of the madness surrounding me. It was an unequal fight, I knew, and though Impa was a skilled fighter, I could see her straining.

Then something flew from her hand and caught the other woman in her exposed stomach. The Gerudo gave a short scream of surprise and pain, clutching her side, and I saw blood seeping from between her fingers. Impa took advantage of her vulnerability to strike her a hard blow to the side of the head with the riding crop, with such force that the woman dropped to the ground, bleeding from the temple.

I wanted to ask if she was dead, but Impa was already grabbing me by the hand, pulling me to my feet and shouting at me, "Go, Zelda, keep going, don't stop for anything!"

I had never seen Impa like this. I had never seen her kill anyone.

But she was right; there was no time to stop. She pushed me onwards, and I went, stumbling into a side hallway off the main room, one that led upstairs to some of the bedrooms. There were less people here, but that didn't mean we could relax. I pumped my legs onward, pushing myself with all my strength, feeling tears burn and streak down my face, blurring my vision.

"Zelda!"

A voice on my right that I recognized. I ground to a halt and turned around; it was Dad's voice.

Time stopped when I saw him.

There he was, lying in the middle of the hall in his white silk night clothes and a red silk robe…

There was more redness than just the robe, though, I realized in a heart-stopping instant. And it was spreading over him, over the smooth stone floor from a gaping tear in the fabric that covered his chest. With each breath he took, more pulsed and flooded out. I ran, sobbing, to his side. I knelt in the blood of my father, clutching his hand, my tears mingling with the life that flowed out of him. He touched my face, wiping those tears away.

"Dad…"

"Be strong, Zelda," he managed, his breath ragged.

"Daddy…"

"I know you can… be strong…"

He looked at me a moment longer through weak eyes.

"Dad," I whispered desperately. No other words would come to me. "Daddy?"

Then, slowly, his hand dropped from my face, his eyes rolled back and closed.

"No… No… Please, Daddy, no…"

His other hand was limp in both of mine.

"DAD!" I screamed, my voice bursting so harshly from my throat that it felt and sounded as though it could rip a hole through the air.

The world suddenly dulled to my senses; slower, quieter, thicker, as though I was experiencing it through liquid pain, as though the internal forces of terror and agony and grief were so great that I couldn't register external ones. I was only dimly aware of Impa taking my hand again and telling me softly, "We must hurry." She dragged me away as I cried—sobbing, screaming—soaked in my dad's blood.

The chaos was no longer deafening confusion. It was just a blur, dull white noise under the rushing turmoil within me. I fell quiet, though tears continued to stream down my face. Running was mindless, effortless.

Before I realized what was happening, Impa was pushing me into the arms of my mom, who hugged me tightly. She, too, was covered in blood, but it wasn't her own. She kissed my face all over, knowing that we were about to be parted forever, not trying to hide from the inevitable truth. I tried clumsily to kiss her back, my fingers tangled in her hair, still crying silently.

"Mommy…"

"I love you," she told me clearly, determinedly, handing me back to Impa. "There is nothing in this world of the next or any other that could ever stop me from loving you with my entire heart and soul."

"I love you, too, Mom, I love you…"

I saw two Gerudo women advancing, swords drawn, and I looked away. I wanted to remember my mother holding me and kissing me, not being slaughtered beneath the merciless, sadistic blades of a usurper's troops.

I could think of nothing but the pain I was feeling. I could see nothing. I held on to Impa as tightly as she held on to me, but that was all I could do.

The cold air hit me like a slap in the face when we burst out of the castle doors and outside. It was raining, a thunderous downpour that soaked me to the skin in seconds, but I didn't care. After a moment, I managed to focus enough to realize that we had emerged from a side door by the stables, the door to which Impa was now pulling open. When it closed behind us, we were alone with the horses; the sounds of the ongoing battle and the ongoing storm were distant.

I found my mind more lucid now that I was out of the heart of the struggle, washed clean by the deluge that had erased my own tears as well. I managed to think clearly enough to mount Impa's white mare on my own. Impa followed, swinging herself up behind me and urging the horse on with Sheikah words of motivation. We exploded out of the stable door at a gallop.

_The Ocarina_, I thought abruptly. It was still in the bag, which Impa had miraculously kept hold of. Holding my balance on the horse with my knees, I reached behind me into the bag lashed to the horse's side and found the musical instrument. Then I clung to the horse's mane, leaning down as close to its neck as I could get, as we charged across the castle grounds.

No sooner had we darted through the gates than I heard another horse galloping behind us. I turned to look—

Ganondorf himself, on a midnight black steed with the bright, terrible eyes of a demon possessed. He was following us. He trusted his minions to kill my mother, but he personally wanted my blood.

"The drawbridge!" I heard Impa bark. Nothing happened. There were no guards to let it down; the Gerudo army had killed them all. We were trapped.

But no, of course not, Impa was too quick for that. As we reached the bridge, I saw her blade swing out next to me, one quick swipe on either side, slashing the ropes that held the bridge up. It crashed down over the river that cut through Hyrule.

On the other side, in a flash of lightning, I saw someone running up—a young boy, dressed in green—

"Link!" I cried.

He skidded to a stop in the muddy grass, apparently too shocked to do anything. I threw the Ocarina desperately behind me, thinking randomly. He jumped for it, but missed, and it soared into the river behind him. Underneath the raging storm and thundering hooves, I'm sure it let out a musical whistle as it flew.

I could do nothing else; we were galloping away, and Ganondorf was after us. Still, it wasn't over. He didn't have the Triforce.

"There's still hope, Impa," I said, to myself as well as to her.

"There's hope as long as the goddesses reign."

* * *

That was the end of the reign of King Churo Hyrule and Queen Delia Hyrule…

But it was not—I vowed it would not be—the end of my family's dynasty.


	3. Transitions

Chapter Three—Transitions

We rode long and hard, through the night, until the sun rose red, until it was high in the heavens. And all that time, I didn't think. I simply felt the rhythm of the horse's hooves beneath me, beating out our escape, pounding along with my heart. _Tha-da-dum, tha-da-dum_.

It was somehow peaceful, though grief was still raw inside me. The feeling of Impa behind me, warm and alive behind her cold armour, was reassuring. I found I wanted to sleep, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to. The dying screams of everything I had known were still echoing in my mind…

"NO!"

"Go, Zelda, go…"

_Tha-da-dum_.

_Tha-da-dum_.

"Don't stop for anything…"

Wordless shrieks of death.

_Tha-da-dum_.

"I know you can…"

_Tha-da-dum_.

"…be strong…"

_Tha-da-dum_.

My tears were as hot as blood. I wiped my face. It was cold.

Behind me, Impa was breathing loudly, like the horse was before me.

I think I was, too.

_Tha-da-dum_.

_Tha-da-dum_.

* * *

In this way, the hours passed. My mind and body settled into a state of such complete dullness that the constant beating they were sustaining was no longer hard to endure. It was simply there, much as I was. The field before us was endless.

We were going to Lake Hylia, south. Southwest. There would be water there, and rest, and…

* * *

We let the horse water at Lake Hylia, and we bathed. Part of me wanted to scrub my skin until it was raw, to somehow rub off the memories, but part of me didn't want to wash away the only thing I had left of my father—his blood.

"Hurry," Impa said to me briskly. She was already clean and mostly dressed.

"Yes, Impa."

She explained my new identity as I wiped my skin clean, watching the swirls of red dissolve in the cold, clear lake.

"Your name is Sheik, and you're my nephew, the son of my sister, who died giving birth. Your father fell ill and died four years ago, which makes you an orphan, which is why you were living with me at the castle. You were a friend of the princess's. That's why we're running from Ganondorf. Understand?"

"Yes," I said quietly. I hadn't put together a sentence yet; I hadn't really put together a thought. Now, though, I added juvenilely, "Look… the blood is gone. My dad's blood is gone…" and I saw a tear drop into the water next to me.

Impa waded in to where I stood and held her hand out to me. "Are you alive?"

"Yes," I whispered, my eyes still fixed on the water as I took her hand.

"Then your father's blood is not gone."

I managed to force my eyes up look at her, and the expression I saw reminded me why it had never been hard for me to look her in the eye before. I couldn't smile, but I did feel some of the icy numbness in my core melt away.

I dressed myself in a blue and white bodysuit Impa gave me, a Sheikah boy's outfit, that covered all of my body except my hands and my face. Impa showed me how to tie my hair up in a turban, opting not to cut it so that I could reveal my true identity when I needed to, but also, I think, to let me hold onto something of my old self. Then she showed me how to wrap the lower part of my face in cloth so that all anyone could see of me was my eyes, and a few wisps of my hair. To be even more secure, she showed me how to use my magic to turn those eyes red, and to turn my skin bronze.

As Impa packed up the saddlebags, I sat down and focused myself on delivering a telepathic message to Link. It was difficult, since I had never forged such a connection with him before, but I managed to communicate to him the notes of the Song of Time and refresh his memory as to what he had to do.

::It's not too late…:: I sent to him. ::There's hope as long as the goddesses reign.::

He was not so adept at telepathy that he could send me words, but I could get emotions from him. There was no fear, only confidence and trust.

"We're ready to go," Impa called. I opened my eyes and saw that everything was ready; the only thing left out was my blood-soaked dress. I shivered.

"What are we going to do with that?"

"Throw it in the lake, where the Gerudo Valley river feeds it," she told me in a perfectly business-like tone. "People should take it as a sign that the thieves killed the princess."

She was already acting as though I wasn't Zelda. Looking at the dress, I felt as though the princess who had worn it really was dead.

"Come on," said Impa, grabbing the dress. "Let's mount up."

I climbed into the horse, followed by Impa. She gave the horse a short command in Sheikah and it trotted to the other side of the lake. She tied the dress in a knot, drew back, and sent it flying easily into the water. We watched it fall, hitting with a dull splash and slowly sinking in a bubbling, satin waves.

"Let's go find my friends," Impa said into the silence. "They'll have heard of the coup, and they'll be expecting us. _Aven_!" she added to the horse, flicking the reins lightly. We were off, the wind roaring alongside us, Impa in front, I with my arms around her waist and the strange feeling of no breeze in my hair. I had always wanted to ride like a boy, but somehow, it wasn't as fun as I'd imagined.

We had just leapt the fence separating Lake Hylia from Hyrule Field when I felt something hit the earth with the force of an earthquake. At the same time, it hit me, and I opened my mouth to cry out, but couldn't.

Something was swelling inside me, some irresistible force that smothered all else, including my voice… I clutched at my chest, because my heart was seized with some intense energy that felt as though it could overwhelm me; even as I did this, I noticed that my right hand was burning, but it wasn't painful…

"Impa, what's happening?" I gasped, strained by the sheer magnitude of the force that felt as though it was trying to rip its way out of me. "Do you feel that?"

I grabbed at her more tightly for support, unsure if I still had control of my body. She saw my hand and gasped.

"Ganondorf has penetrated the Sacred Realm! He has touched the Triforce!"

"But… how…?"

Impa shook her head thoughtfully. Then, comprehension dawning on her face, she breathed, "Link. Of course."

"Link would never—!"

"No, not on purpose. But Ganondorf could easily have followed him through the Door of Time, hidden in the shadows, so that when Link took the Master Sword…"

Even as she spoke, the feeling within me subsided gently, melting away into my soul. The relaxation that followed was a beautiful feeling, but I couldn't forget the other emotions that rocked within me.

"So it's over," I said softly. "Ganondorf has the Triforce."

"He doesn't. Don't you remember what happens when someone like him touches the Triforce? You've learned this."

I thought about it. "It splits up," I concluded, "into its three parts. So Ganondorf has the one he values…"

"Power, obviously."

"…and the other two are hidden inside people the goddesses chose."

"Link holds the Master Sword. He is the Hero of Time. That means he has the Triforce of Courage. And the Triforce of Wisdom, in my opinion, went to Princess Zelda."

I glanced at my right hand, and saw an image of the Triforce, like a birth mark. The Triforce of Wisdom, the lower left, darker than the other two, was glowing slightly.

"That will fade once you've adjusted to it, but in the meantime, we'll have to hide it," said Impa, reverting back to her usual matter-of-fact self and rummaging through our luggage. She pulled out more of the fabric with which she had wrapped my face, and showed me how to tie it around my hands so that they were covered, better protected, and I still had full use of my fingers.

"There. That will be handy in battle."

I opened my mouth to ask what the meant by that. Was I actually going to be in battle? But she was still speaking.

"Now let's keep going. I told my friends where to meet us, so we're going due north from here."

Neither of us spoke as we rode. I don't know about Impa, but I was lost in thought. I couldn't turn my mind away from Link. I reached into the saddlebag and pulled out our copy of the _Book of Goddesses_; it was full of prophecies. It would explain about the Hero of Time.

I found this:

_The Hero of Time is so called because he shall travel the currents of past, present and future, using the Master Sword as his vessel. As a child, he shall enter the Sacred Realm, acquire the Triforce of Courage, and be sealed for seven years._

_He shall emerge as a True Hero, unknowing of his destiny, and save Hyrule from forces of evil. He shall pass from childhood to adulthood and back again many times during his quest for justice._

_Seven years after the day he first seizes the blade of legend from its resting place, at exactly the anniversary of the moment, then shall he be revealed, and guided by Wisdom_.

I closed the book. It had certainly given me plenty to think about, particularly time travel. If he was going to return to the past, his past, well, that was my present right now, wasn't it? Couldn't I find him somewhere and—and—do nothing, because he would already have been to the future. He would know things I wouldn't, and I already knew things he might never. It could never work.

* * *

We arrived at a place where two caravans were. Impa pulled the horse back to a walk and called, "Hello! Whose home is this?

A young Sheikah girl poked her head out of the closest caravan, a curious expression on her face. Seeing Impa, she beamed.

"Impa! Mom will be so glad to see you! After what happened up at the castle, we thought you'd be looking for us, you and that boy you told us about, your nephew." She smiled at me. "Is that him?"

I was more than a little nervous as this, my first encounter with someone I had to lie to. I hadn't practiced, and what if my act wasn't convincing? Making sure to lower my voice, I answered, "Yes. I'm Sheik."

Only then did I realize, quite suddenly, that I was speaking and understanding the Sheikah language. I had never been able to do that before—but I'd never had the Triforce of Wisdom before, either.

I looked at Impa for a reaction, but she was apparently too busy to notice that I had done anything unusual, greeting her Sheikah friends who had materialized from somewhere. All the Sheikah viewed her as one of the heroines of their race, the woman who had helped define them as a people and establish their role in Hylian society, one of the most influential peace-keepers in world history; she was, in short, "the great Impa."

"Oh, look at you!" said one woman, holding Impa at arm's length. "You've been riding hard, I can tell. Let's get you cleaned up. Boys!"

She called two boys, apparently her sons, one my age and one a bit older. They were looking at me dubiously.

"Would you help Sheik get himself washed?" she asked them.

I opened my mouth to protest, though I didn't know what I would say, but Impa spoke first.

"Don't worry about Sheik. He just cleaned up and changed clothes."

The woman looked at me. I thought she disagreed with Impa, but didn't want to speak up.

"All right," she consented. "Boys, show Sheik around."

"Yes, Mom," muttered both boys in unison. They shuffled towards me unhappily; I probably looked boring, shy and quiet.

_Well, if they want to leave me alone_, I thought slightly bitterly, _I am completely satisfied with that_.

I wasn't in the mood for male bonding. So I tried to seem even more withdrawn and intimidated than I felt.

There wasn't much to see. Each of the two caravans housed a family, a mother, father and children; the mothers of the families were sisters. The caravans were their homes, but at night they set up tents under the stars. The youngest siblings shared a tent, but at the age of seven they moved into individual ones.

After this short tour was over, Impa reappeared.

"Come over here, kids," said the woman who had greeted her, beckoning us to her. We gathered in a circle, seated ourselves on the grass, and Impa began to tell our tale.

"As you know, I have long been an attendant to the Hyrule Royal Family—nurse to the crown princess, Zelda, to be specific. But there was another child in the castle as well.

"Sheik came into my care four years ago, when his father, my younger sister's husband, fell ill and died. The king and queen were gracious enough to allow this boy into their home, as I was a trusted member of the household and Sheik's only family. I also suspect that perhaps they may have hoped to raise him into a sort of prince, a future husband for their daughter.

"For the most part, Sheik was integrated into the royal household. Having been only six when he left Sheikah culture, he doesn't know much about it. I have taught him some, such as the language, but he remains comparatively uninformed. The education he received from me was much the same as Zelda's. He is better versed, therefore, in the ways of a Hylian nobleman than a true Sheikah.

"But I digress. Recently, there came to our castle a visitor, an ambassador from the Gerudo—their king, in fact, Ganondorf Dragmire. He came offering peace. His words sound so false now, when I recollect them, though at the time we were all certain he was sincere, and that his arrival heralded the dawn of a new peace…

"Zelda, however, suspected he was planning something. She asked me to arrange something, in case we had to flee the castle. I contacted you to appease her, not because I truly believed her misgivings.

"Then, one night—Was it only last night? It seems days ago that it happened. I heard confusion, shouts, and realized to my horror that Zelda had been right.

"It pains me still to think on it. I hurriedly collected a few things and searched for Zelda. I found her nowhere… I found no living Hylians… I found the bodies of all the soldiers and of—of our noble king and gracious queen."

It was lucky that my face was covered at these words; I couldn't keep my face impassive and hide my secret. Impa went on, her voice thicker.

"I also found Sheik. His inborn guile as a Sheikah and his intimate knowledge of the castle had helped him to hide. He told me he had seen Zelda taken away by the troops, screaming all the way that she'd die before she'd be a Gerudo. They told her that if she obeyed, if she would take her role as princess under the new king, she needn't suffer. It seemed they had a plan to raise her to be Ganondorf's heir.

"She fought them, though. Of course she did. Sheik and I snuck through the shadows of the castle until we found where at least a dozen of them were dragging her towards the exit of the castle. I heard Ganondorf's voice added to the fray. 'If she won't shut up by night fall, you'll have to kill her. The people won't believe she's forsaken her parents for me if she screams otherwise for weeks on end!' And she screamed on: 'Never, never! You've killed my parents! I'll never be loyal to you! You are not the king! You're a murderer!' They were the last words of hers I heard as they bound her and took her away.

"Sheik and I took the few things I had packed, and a horse from the stables. We rode off west. We were the only loyalists left alive. We were determined to go to the Gerudo lands. If they weren't holding Zelda there, I could at least torture information out of high-ranking hostages.

"But as we rode over the river into Gerudo Valley, Sheik noticed something in the water, riding the current down into Lake Hylia, reddening the water around it with fresh blood that soaked it… It was Zelda's body. We recognized the dress. It could have been no other.

"We gave in to the hopelessness of our venture. Sheik and I watered at Lake Hylia for the night, purging ourselves of all the pain we had endured.

"In his ten years here, I must say Sheik has witnessed more suffering than any mortal should be expected to in the span of their existence. Yet I fear we will all very soon know even more."

* * *

Sleep did not come easily that night, though I had now been awake for over two days. How could I forget everything long enough to sleep? Impa's vivid tale brought back the images of the end of my old life.

That was how I would always refer to what the rest of the world would eventually call Ganon's Coup—the day I died.


	4. Identity

Chapter Four—Identity

I woke in the morning, as I had done every other morning of the rest of my life. It felt odd to do so; my mind and soul were so raw with pain that it didn't seem right that my body should be able to go about its usual routines. Basic needs such as sleep were selfish to desire when there were things so much more important than that in the world.

When I emerged from my tent and asked the time, the children looked up from their game of cards and told me it was close to noon, about eleven o'clock. Couldn't I tell, they asked, pointing at the sun.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I'm used to telling time on clocks."

This comment must have reminded them all of my past as Impa had told it, for their faces suddenly illuminated with recollection of my royal education, then darkened with recollection of why I had received it and why I was with them now. They weren't the only ones who were wondering how I was going to cope.

"Where's Impa?" I asked, looking for anything familiar.

"Talking to Mom and Dad," said the girl who had first greeted us the day before. She nodded towards the larger of the two caravans.

"Oh. Uh… Is there breakfast?" I asked sheepishly, thinking I had probably slept through it. I felt guilty for interrupting their game over trivial things like time and food. In this world, they seemed more like nobles than me.

"Breakfast? Yeah, sure. I think there's some stuff in that bag…" She nodded towards a large sack at the back of the smaller caravan.

I found some bread and dried fruit where she indicated; it wasn't the hot meals I was used to, but it was something. I settled myself down next to the siblings.

"So," I began awkwardly, "I don't know any of your names or anything yet."

They didn't answer for a moment. "Just let us finish this hand," said the youngest finally.

"Oh."

I waited and chewed in silence. The game culminated as the oldest boy pulled into the lead and won a fabulous victory—at least, this is what I gathered from their shouts. The game wasn't one I knew, but whether this was because it was a Sheikah game or simply not a royal one, I couldn't have said.

"All right, then."

The girl who'd told me where Impa was was speaking again. She seemed to be the leader.

"I'll introduce you to everyone. I'm Hisha, I'm twelve. These are my brothers, Nagy and Mian, they're nine and eleven. And our little sister, Kimia. She's seven. Our parents are Lekhan and Vesta."

I had already met the parents the night before, so I knew that Vesta was the elder of the two sisters who were the mothers of these families, and that she was very much the matriarch. That would explain why her eldest daughter was in charge of the younger generation.

"These are Edir and Aunt Yivam's kids, Alma and Jaret. Alma's my age and Jaret's fourteen."

Everyone mumbled hello when Hisha introduced them. They all seemed fairly bland, for Sheikah, at least, making me think that they probably would have been much less dull if I hadn't been present. The exceptions were Kimia, who was full of youthful enthusiasm, and Jaret, who had a depth of emotion in his eyes that made me wish wholeheartedly that I could still be a girl.

Just then, Impa emerged from the larger caravan, followed by Vesta and Lekhan.

"Come on, kids, let's pack up!" Lekhan called. "We're moving on east towards Kokiri Forest, as soon as we can! Let's go!"

Instantly, all six children were up and moving, packing away their tents, the remnants of breakfast, which I hurriedly finished, and anything else that had been lying around. They all knew their roles so well that all ten of them seemed to function as a single entity. Impa and I stood out of the way and watched.

"Why are we moving?" I asked Impa, as we stood aside to avoid getting in their way.

"Because we must keep on the move, outside easy tracking," she answered simply. After a pause, she added, "We are Sheikah. Sheikah move."

"Can twelve people stay in hiding for…years?" I asked quietly.

Impa sighed. "I don't believe so, and neither do Vesta and Lekhan. We've agreed that Lekhan will train you and the other boys in the martial arts, because you should all learn them now that we may need to defend ourselves at a moment's notice. When you're proficient, we will leave them and make our way on our own. Two people, two Sheikah, can hide for as long as they need."

"How long do you think that will take? My training, I mean."

"You're clever. Not much more than a few months, I would say."

I rolled this over in my mind. A few months, and then it would just be me and Impa, until Link returned, and then… I stopped myself before I could start to imagine what would come after that.

In mere minutes, everything was packed.

"Ride with us, you two," called Edir from the smaller caravan. "We have more free space."

"Let's go," said Impa, pushing me forwards.

When I climbed up, I found myself seated next to Jaret in the back. He smiled at me, and I smiled back. Then I remembered that my face was mostly hidden.

"Hi," I said. I had never been scared to speak before, but these children made me nervous.

"Hi, Sheik." Beat. "You sure slept in late this morning." He was making an attempt at conversation with someone he normally wouldn't have spoken to, and I appreciated his effort.

"I had trouble falling asleep last night," I told him truthfully. I was going to be lying so much for the foreseeable future that if I could possibly find a place not to, I would take it. Daring to elaborate slightly, I explained, "I just kept thinking about…"

"Oh. Right. Well, think about something else then."

"It's a bit hard." I managed a laugh, but it was bitter and painful.

"Then tell me what it's like living at the castle. And tell me about Princess Zelda," he added on impulse. "I've always wondered what she was like."

"Zelda?" I asked, unsure whether or not to smile. I saw the humour, but I wasn't sure he would think it appropriate to laugh right now. "She's really nice," I began, "but she kind of likes to stick to herself. I guess it's 'cause she grew up alone inside the castle, so she doesn't really have friends. I think she just had me and Impa, really. But she's really strong, too, you know? Will power. No wonder she wouldn't agree to be Ganondorf's heir. She'd never compromise."

Jaret looked at me closely, making me nervous. Then he said, "You were supposed to marry her, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I think so." I decided to stick with Impa's story.

"What did you think of that? Would you have liked to marry her?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. All either of us had ever had was each other. It could have been nice to be married to my best friend."

Jaret smirked at me. "Was she pretty? I saw pictures of her and she sure looked it, but I never knew if those pictures were supposed to make her look good."

I hoped he couldn't see me blushing. "She looked like her pictures," I answered non-committally. How else was I supposed to respond to that question?

"Pretty, then?"

I hesitated, then went for, "Yes."

Jaret chuckled. "Y'know, to be perfectly honest, none of us were really looking forward to having you with us. We like Impa, but we thought you were going to be some stuck up brat. Spoiled rotten, you know? A perfect little Hylian prince!" He laughed.

I nodded sagely. "So that's why you're all acting so distant, I guess?"

"Sorry about that," Jaret said with another laugh, noticeably more nervous as he glanced at his hands in his lap. "I'll tell the others, though, you're just a regular guy like us."

"Thanks." _You have no idea_.

* * *

Apparently, Jaret's endorsement was valuable. The others quickly accepted me as "a regular guy;" they never could have guessed who I was. After all, princesses don't enjoy rough sports or show a natural talent for martial arts.

As Impa had predicted, it didn't take long for me to become skilled in the traditional weapons of the Sheikah: the shiv, the hookchain, and the throwing stars. I also learned to use my fists and feet in combat, and according to Lekhan, I had "lightning reflexes."

"You're a born fighter, Sheik," he panted as he dodged my attacks, parrying with a stick. "You're putting my boys to shame."

"Putting me to shame, too," Jaret commented, standing off to the side with his hands on his hips. He was not to be enjoying losing to a ten-year-old, and I had to wonder how he'd feel losing to a ten-year-old girl, and grinned beneath my facial coverings at the thought.

I couldn't help wondering, though, how I would compare to Link.

_No. Sheik doesn't know anyone named Link_.

I didn't allow myself to think about him.

The girls soon welcomed me as well. They thought I was unusually considerate for a boy, and were impressed at how I could tell what they expected of me. Like I had a sixth sense for the way girls' minds work. Like I had been inside a girl's mind myself. At first, it's true that they were suspicious of how too good to be true I came across as, but they soon learned that I was just trying to be a nice person. After that, they loved me, and confided in me almost as if I was one of the girls. Almost.

Every two or three days, we packed up and moved somewhere else. I was getting good at that, too; Impa said I could come and go like a shadow—a true Sheikah. I could tell she was proud of me every time I snuck up behind her and caught her by surprise.

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear you'd never lived in a castle, Sheik," she told me one day, after I crept up with such silence that she didn't notice me until I jumped clear over her head and dove into the river next to which she sat. Although she smiled, there was an unmistakable sadness in her eyes.

I pulled myself out of the water and flopped down next to her. I returned her expression as I said, "Well, I'm a Sheikah, right? It's not like I'm some princess."

"Of course. And I think it's time you and I made a life of our own. You're ready. You can hide like wind, you can fight like fire, you're as musical as the forest, you're as smart as the water. You're as talented a Sheikah son as ever was born."

Lying on my stomach on the shore, I trailed my fingers in the water and wished I could have done the same with my toes.

"I'm tired of being hidden and covered like this," I said quietly, almost without realizing I was speaking.

"I know," Impa sighed, pulling me up into her arms. "So am I. But it's only the beginning."

* * *

Early the next morning, we all packed up to leave. Impa and I prepared ourselves to part from the ten people who had been like family to us for the past three and a half months.

Saying goodbye to all the other children, I tried to replicate the affectionate one-armed hug-cum-handshake that I had seen boys give each other in place of a girl's embrace. I don't think I really succeeded, but they didn't give any sign that they noticed. After all, I guess it generally doesn't occur to people that a young boy would be lying about his gender. As if to prove this idea, Alma gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before blushing furiously.

"You're really sweet, you know, Sheik. Somehow, it's like you know what girls are thinking."

I smiled. _ You have no idea_. "Thanks. You're really sweet, too, Alma."

"Let's go, Sheik!" called Impa from where she sat on her pure white horse. She was holding the reins of a dappled grey pony named Umikae that Vesta had donated for me.

"Coming!" I called back, running and waving goodbye to all my old friends.

_Friends_… I had friends… And now they were all gone…

* * *

Without ten other people, Impa and I could cover most of the distance from the foot of Death Mountain down to Lake Hylia within a night. During the days, we stayed put to stay safe. Impa kept me on my toes, not just in combat skills but also in my use of both Sheikah and Hylian magic, and in music. I began to specialize in playing a type of small harp used by the Sheikah.

Impa and I both knew that the goddesses expected something from me, but we didn't know what, so we took care to ensure that I would be ready for anything.

I kept very close track of time, so that I would know when Link was going to return. When we had been on the run for two months and five days beyond the three months and sixteen days we had spent with the other Sheikah, Impa woke me up with a wide smile.

Blinking in confusion, I muttered, "What? What is it?" Usually, I just slept when I was tired, regardless of whether it was day or night, and Impa didn't wake me up. If not for the pleasant look on her face, I would have thought it was time to pack up and run from Ganondorf.

"Don't you know what day it is?"

I shook my head, rubbing my eyes sleepily to wake them up.

Impa handed me a small box. "Happy birthday, Sheik."

"Birthday? Oh! I'm eleven today! Oh, wow!"

It occurred to me as I opened the box that I had been measuring time in days since Link had gone. Everything had been shoved to the back of my mind, even my own eleventh birthday. Immediately after this, it occurred to me that this couldn't have been my real birthday; I had in fact turned eleven several months ago, not long after I had left the castle. Of course, I thought sadly, I had been too busy to notice. And Impa hadn't wanted to call attention to the fact, either. So this was evidently to be the new, falsified anniversary of the beginning of my life.

If she had to pick a day for that, it should have been the day of Ganon's Coup…

I placed such thoughts out of my mind, and opened my present.

"They're beautiful!" I gasped when I opened the box. "Oh, thank you Impa!"

I embraced her joyfully, then remembered my façade. Boys don't generally get excited over a pair of golden Triforce earrings, however beautiful they may be.

"I mean… Not for me," I correctly gruffly, pulling away from the hug. "But someday I could, you know, give them to…my girlfriend or something. A girl would like these. Not me, though."

Impa smiled. "Of course."

"Thanks anyway."

"You're welcome."

* * *

Hyrule was changing.

Some of these changes, I attributed to Ganondorf, such as the Redead infestation and Moblin looting in Hyrule Castle Town which forced the villagers to relocate en mass to Kakariko.

Others seemed to be resultant of another force, such as the mysterious draining of the well in Kakariko.

There were many rumours:

Monsters had overrun Kokiri Forest and the Lost Woods.

The former queen of the Gerudo, a woman named Nabooru, had disappeared.

The water level of Lake Hylia was steadily decreasing.

Ingo, the farmhand of Lon Lon ranch, had kicked its owner, Talon, out of power.

And other horrors cursed the land.

All this put me even more focused on counting the days until Link's return. Before I knew it, Impa was wishing me a happy birthday again.

"Thanks," I said, as Impa served me some game I had caught and she had cooked. I was a competent hunter; at first, I had taken pride in each catch, but now it was a mundane event.

"What's wrong, Sheik? You sound distracted." She could always read me like that, just as I could read her. Sheikah can read each other.

"Yeah, a little bit. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

These thoughts had been simmering in the back of my mind for some time now. I decided to voice them. "Well, we've been hiding from everyone for so long. It's as if…as if we think Ganondorf himself is after us. And why would he be? We don't know anything, we aren't hiding anything."

I paused in case Impa wanted to say something, but she simply continued to eat, chewing thoughtfully and watching me.

"If we keep hiding, Ganondorf is going to think we _are_ hiding something. He'll come after us."

Pause again; still nothing from Impa.

"So I thought that maybe it would be best if we made ourselves more public, more visible. There are problems in the world that we could solve, I think. And if we stay in the public eye, no one will suspect that we're not telling them something."

"Hm," said Impa, in a tone I knew all too well. "I see."

"What do you think?" I asked, though I was quite sure I knew the answer.

"I think… that your idea could work."

"But? There's a 'but', I know there is."

"Don't be so quick to anger," Impa warned me coolly. I closed my mouth and bit back the objection that I hadn't been getting angry. "I was simply going to say that you're very young to be trying to solve the problems of the world."

Now I was getting angry. She still thought of me as a child, like a delicate little thing, even though I had long proven myself to be otherwise.

"No, I'm not!"

"You're a child," she said, confirming my suspicion.

"I'm twelve! And Link was—"

"SHEIK!"

Impa was suddenly on her feet, trembling with obvious rage… but, as usual, her eyes revealed the emotion her face didn't; it this case, fear, which ignited in me as well.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said in a voice so sharp I winced. "You don't know anyone named Link and you never have. Ridiculous nonsense. I never want to hear you making things up like that. If I ever catch you lying to me, you will most seriously regret it. Am I perfectly clear?"

My heart was beating, not quickly, but unusually hard. I nodded, recognizing the dangerous things I had done. Both of us sat in silence for a moment, recovering from the shock of the abrupt close call.

"When you're fourteen," Impa said as we finished breakfast, "then you can do whatever you like."

We made eye contact; between us passed a mutual understanding, and I nodded.


	5. Destiny

Chapter Five—Destiny

Never could I have imagined what would happen twenty-six days before my real fourteenth birthday—the day before the three year anniversary of the day Link had disappeared.

Night had just fallen, marking the three year anniversary of the when Ganondorf Dragmire had taken Hyrule Castle in a bloodbath, a massacre. I knew it was. I always counted the days. Yet, by now, I managed to sleep on these nights.

I felt myself waking up, and realized that I was not curled up in my traditional Sheikah tent. I had no idea where I was, but I wasn't panicking. I don't think I could have panicked if I had wanted to.

Looking at myself, I realized that I was actually materializing here. This was impossible… but it was happening. It was definitely no dream.

"Where am I?" I asked. My voice came out quietly, but the place was so silent that the sound spread out across apparently boundless space. I looked around; all the features of the place became clear only when I consciously looked at them.

I was standing on a large, circular platform, which was somehow both colourless and every colour all at once. Wherever I was, my eyes were no longer subjected to the laws of mortal possibility. Six smaller circular platforms floated around it, each a different colour: green, red, blue, orange, purple, yellow. The platform on which I stood, near the edge, also bore six circles in these colours, each with a different design superimposed on it. I stood between the green and yellow ones.

All around the platform was emptiness, blackness, the absence of anything. Occasional beams of light shot arbitrarily through this space, but illuminated nothing. I was still absorbing this when I noticed what was in the centre of my platform.

There was a bier constructed of the same colourless-rainbow, glass-like material and resting over a glowing gold image of the Triforce. Lying on this dais was, unmistakably—

_Link_!

I gasped, and quietly approached were he lay. All his possessions lay next to the bier, including his clothes. He was covered only by a light, silvery cloth which rippled as if in water, and his bare chest was exposed. He looked as though someone had placed him there, just so; his head lolled to one side with his golden hair strewn about, lips parted, and right hand hanging limply over the edge. His left hand was touching, just slightly, the Master Sword which lay next to him. On this hand was clearly visible the mark of the Triforce, much like the one I bore beneath my costume, the right triangle of it glowing.

When I had seen him last, he had been fresh from battle—wet, filthy, bearing weapons and a look of fierce determination. Here, now, he looked so _vulnerable_… so fresh and young and innocent.

And yet, so unquestionably like the Hero of Time.

It struck me heavily how cruel it was of destiny to deny him his youth to make him into what he had to be.

::_He must lose seven years of his life so that Hyrule can have a future. He is a part of Hyrule_.::

Even though I had never heard that voice before, I knew instantly who I would see when I turned around.

Before me stood a woman with golden skin, and hair of the same colour which rippled around Her, as if the light She radiated were a wind. She wore a shapeless gown of blue, so light and smooth that I couldn't conceive of any mortal fabric of which it could be made. Her eyes were every shade of blue at once, matching that gown that looked to be an extension of Her body, and She saw with them more of me than I had known existed. There was a solid, strong, maternal gentleness etched into Her perfect features. She was so divine that I could sense Her emotions regardless of the fact that Her face did not change, and I could hear Her words regardless of the fact that She did not speak. She was so perfect that She needed no physical manifestation, I could tell, but She assumed one so that I could in some way conceive of Her in my limited mortal mind.

::_I am thy mother, thy teacher, thy life, thyself, Zelda_.::

"I know that…" I breathed in amazement.

::_I am Nayru_.::

"Of course… of course, I know."

::_Thou knowest also thine own identity, and that of this boy, is it not so, daughter of Churo, heir to Hyrule_?::

Suddenly, I realized I had given myself away. Nayru read the horror on my face.

::_Ganondorf the Dark One is not in this world. This is the Sacred Realm of Myself and My sisters. Would We bring the Hero of Time to a place that is unsafe_?::

I didn't know what I should say, though my mind was exploding with things I _wanted_ to say.

::_Speak thy heart, daughter_.::

"I wish that Link didn't have to lose these years."

::_If he did not, no one would oppose the King of Evil. He and Hyrule would die young. He gains years even as he sleeps_.::

_But these are the best years of his life. He's losing everything to fight this battle_.

Nayru must have heard my thoughts, but since I didn't voice them, She didn't respond. I asked a new question.

"What is happening to Link?"

::_My sister Farore is nurturing him. His is not a natural growth. Look on him, and see how She has changed the course of his manhood. He shall grow no beard, for he has no need of it. Yet, his long disused body has grown visibly stronger…such that thou hast noticed_.::

Though Her tone was not teasing, I blushed. It _was_ hard not to notice how perfectly sculpted his body was becoming. I was tempted to retort that if They didn't want me to notice, then They should have covered him up a bit better, but it somehow didn't seem like either the time or the place.

::_He is becoming a man—a man perfectly created for his destiny. As thou art becoming a woman perfectly created for thine_.::

This statement was obviously meant to entice me into enquiring further.

"My destiny. Is that why I am here?"

::_Thou hast come to learn what thou must do to help Link on his quest. Listen well_.::

"Yes. Of course I will."

::_There exist six Temples in the world you know, one each for Fire, Spirit, Water, Forest, Shadow and Light. Each is, in times when Our laws rule, guarded by a Sage. This is the Light Temple, guarded by the Sage of Light—Rauru_.::

At these words, a figure began to materialize, much in the same way I had done, over the yellow symbol on the edge of the platform. It was an old man, with white hair and a thick moustache, wearing robes of red velvet with gold trim, his eyes alive with intensity, his face grave.

"I am Rauru," he said, bowing respectfully, "the Sage of Light. I welcome you, Your Grace, My Queen."

I made a clumsy move halfway between a bow and a curtsey, unsure whether to respond to him as Sheik or Zelda. "Thank you, but I'm still only a princess."

Rauru frowned and asked Nayru, "She does not know?"

::_Leave us_.:: The tone was not stern, but simply final. Rauru bowed and vanished.

::_When I speak to thee, I use no words_,:: Nayru began before I could ask a question. ::_My ideas enter thy mind. Thou hearest them through a filter of thy psyche. When My idea is thy true identity and title, thou hearest 'daughter of Churo, heir to Hyrule.' In truth, thou art twice a queen_.

::_First, the deaths of thy noble and worthy parents have made thee the rightful sovereign ruler of all Hyrule. Thou never took the thought into thy mind_.::

It seemed so obvious when She said it that my mouth dropped open.

::_Second, there are six Temples, but seven Sages. The seventh is their leader, their queen. Thou art the Seventh Sage_.::

I felt dizzy. Queen of Hyrule. Seventh Sage. Predestined owner of the Triforce of Wisdom. Everything…

::_Yes, thou art truly a powerful woman. The most powerful person in Hyrule. Thanks to Impa, thou art diligently trained to fill thy role_.::

I felt dwarfed, miniscule in the scheme of the universe, far too small for the person I was supposed to be.

"Why?" I stammered in faint desperation. "Why me? I can't…do all of this! I can't be all of this! I can't rule the world!"

::_It's very true that these are burdens no child should bear, and whatever thou hast told Impa, thou knowest that thou art yet a child. That is why, like Link, thou must spend seven years hidden away until thou art prepared to take up thy mantle_.::

"Why am I not here, too, then? With Link, growing up?"

::_Because thou hast a guardian—Impa. Link has outgrown his guardians; he is alone in the world. We must give thee information so that thou canst give it to him when it is time for him to hear it_.::

She was waiting for me to be ready, to admit that I was ready, to hear and understand this information.

"Okay," I said. "What do I need to know?"

Nayru told me everything I would later tell Link: the locations of the six Temples, the songs that he could use on the Ocarina of Time to access them, and other things as well.

::_Before he begins his journey, he will need more equipment than simply the Blade of Evil's Bane. All the weapons he used as a child, he will have outgrown. There is a key took which he can find in the graveyard in Kakariko Village. Tell him simply that_.::

"I will."

::_There are more questions thou desirest to hear the answers to_.:: She was telling, not asking, because She knew She spoke the truth.

"Yes," I admitted. "Who are the Sages?"

::_The first, the Sage of Forest, is a Kokiri girl. Thou hast never lain eyes upon her_.::

"But Link has?" I guessed; it would make sense.

::_Her name is Saria. She raised him, and she is and always shall be his dearest, most beloved friend_.::

"She raised him? But he's a Kokiri! He was never an infant, no one raised him!"

::_Link is a Hylian_.::

"But…how?"

::_It would be unjust to tell thee his story when he knows it not himself. Thou shalt hear it, but not from My lips, not now, not here_.::

I hesitated. "Oh." What else could I say?

::_The Sage of Fire_,:: Nayru went on, ::_is the lord of the Gorons, Darunia. He and Link met when Link saved his people from starvation in exchange for the Goron's Ruby. They are sworn brothers_.::

"My father was Darunia's sworn brother," I said softly.

::_Thy father was a strong leader. Thou must be as well_.::

"Yes. I know. I'm sorry."

::_The Sage of Water_,:: Nayru went on, ::_is Link's fiancée_.::

My jaw dropped. "Link has a _fiancée_?" I gasped, flabbergasted.

::_The Zora's Sapphire is also an engagement symbol of the Zora royal family. By taking it from Princess Ruto, Link agreed to marry her_.::

"Did he know that when he took it?" I inquired, still in disbelief.

::_Yes. But thou hadst set him a task, and he would fulfill it, whatever the cost_.::

I felt horrible; Princess Ruto was unbearably self-centred. "Will…will he really marry her?" I asked, unsure if I wanted to hear the answer. I wouldn't be able to live with myself, though, if I had condemned him to that.

::_The future of their relationship does not concern thee. I cannot tell thee that which he does not know himself. I will tell thee that he would never marry her willingly_.::

_He agreed to it for me_. "He's losing everything for this task I set him."

::_We set the task. Thou art simply Our messenger, and he is simply Our vessel_.::

"I just…feel like…it's my fault," I managed, voicing my guilt and doubt for the first time.

::_Assure thyself that it is not_.::

This was a real direction, and I took a moment to think peacefully over it. When She sensed I was ready, Nayru continued.

::_The Sage of Spirit is a woman whose name thou knowest already—Nabooru_.::

"But she's disappeared!"

::_Link will find her. However, thou must ensure that the other Sages remain safe. They will all be threatened, and thou must protect them_.::

The weight of the world, which had been sitting on my chest, dropped a notch as it grew heavier.

::_Finally, the Sage of Shadow, a woman from the race not yet represented. The greatest of the Sheikah_.::

Something punched me in the stomach. "Impa is a Sage?"

_They will all be threatened… and I must protect them_.

::_Yes. Fear not for her. She is prepared for her destiny, as thou art for thine and Link is for his_.::

Somehow, even Nayru couldn't keep from worrying about Impa, the one person I had left in the world. However, I merely nodded, and tried to ignore the twisting anxiety. _I have to be a strong leader_.

::_Ask what other questions thou wilt now_,:: Nayru instructed me.

"Will Link succeed in his task?"

::_I cannot reveal the ways and will of destiny and divinity to thee_.::

I said nothing; I simply stared at Link's face.

::_Thou knowest_,:: Nayru told me, ::_that thou art not to fall in love with the Hero_.::

I smirked, leaning against the bier as casually as I could. "I figured. It would be a little backwards to have the princess save the brave knight."

There was a moment's silence, during which I felt Nayru's consciousness in mine.

::_Thou mayst spend some time with him, but not as much as thou wouldst like. If that were allowed, thou wouldst remain by his side for eternity_.::

"Thank you," I said, not meeting Her gaze.

I turned my attention to Link, studying the subtle details of his features so that I could recall whenever I needed to the reality of the fighting and the face behind the mask of courage, the child inside the man. I looked at the shadows of his eyelashes across his cheek, the way his nose curved slightly, the shape and shade of his lips… A lock of hair containing every shade from white blond to dark auburn was drifting over his face, moving as though in an eddy of water. I reached to brush it out of his eyes, but found there was a barrier around him. It was invisible and stiffly elastic, but it was a barrier nonetheless.

::_If thou touch him, it will end the magic surrounding him_.::

Of course, this knowledge only made me wish more that I could touch him, just to be sure he was real. I stared at him for a long time, until I knew his face so well that I could have recognized him more easily than his own mother, and certainly more easily than anyone could have recognized me.

::_Dost thou remember all that I have told thee_?::

I tore my eyes away from Link to look at Nayru. "Yes, I think so."

::_All of it is important. Thou asked Me if Link will succeed in his task—that depends in part on thee_.::

"And he…he must know me only as Sheik?"

Nayru didn't answer, because I already knew what She would say.

"Will he trust me? Sheik is a stranger to him."

::_Thou hast the information he needs. He must trust thee. Just as thou art My daughter, he is Farore's son. Just as thou did not learn thy destiny until necessary, so must Link only receive what information is necessary_.::

I couldn't help smirking. "Farore's son? So that's why we can't fall in love. We're cousins."

Not acknowledging this comment, Nayru told me, ::_Thou must return now to Hyrule_.::

I didn't get a chance to say goodbye before I found myself floating again in softness, like the gentleness that had brought me.

When the world was real again, and I, too, I was in my tent in the dark, in a world that seemed only a shallow echo of that which I had just left.


	6. Heroine

Chapter Six—Heroine

For a few days, Impa said I wasn't myself and asked me what was the matter. I told her it was nothing; how I could I tell her that I saw the threat of Ganondorf and the fate of the young, innocent boy sleeping in the Sacred Realm, whenever I looked around Hyrule? That, when I saw her face, I saw only the danger she was in, and how it was suddenly my duty to protect the woman who had always protected me?

These images burned in my eyes, these thoughts smouldered in my mind.

Hyrule was falling apart around us. There were rumours among Hylians that those who dissented from Ganondorf's reign were being murdered; his army killed even women and children.

I also heard word that Big Brother Darunia of the Gorons was planning a revolt, because his people were no longer receiving the right of the equal citizens with the Hylians, which they had under King Churo.

Many of the Zoras were revolting unofficially, through more diplomatic means; these were the orders of King Zora, but Princess Ruto was insisting that aggression was necessary, and I agreed with her. This was probably the only time in the history of the world that we would agree on anything.

Nabooru of the Gerudo was still missing, and presumed to be an assassination victim; her followers lived in hiding from the members of Ganondorf's forces, who were hunting them down and killing them.

I had heard nothing of Saria and the Kokiri, or of Impa and the Sheikah. For this I was grateful, as it seemed I would shortly have to come to the rescue of Darunia and Ruto.

Preparing for my role as assistant Hero of Time, as I thought of it, I began doing what I had proposed to do several years ago: putting myself on the forefront of the world stage and solving the small crises which resulted from Ganondorf's evil reign.

One of the first problems I tackled was that of Lon Lon Ranch. Talon was its rightful owner, but Ingo the farmhand had driven him out, taken over, and begun dominating it cruelly. What bothered me most about the situation was how much it reminded me of my own; Talon's daughter, Malon, had lost what was hers because of a man loyal to Ganondorf.

I would have liked to bring Talon back into power in the ranch, but, unfortunately, I couldn't find him. So I would have to settle for limiting Ingo's power…under threat.

When I arrived at Lon Lon Ranch, it was sunset. Looking around, I found Malon putting the horses away for the night.

"Malon?" I asked, approaching her. She looked up at me, startled and confused.

"Who are you? How do you know me?" she asked, looking fearful. I could see, though her bright hair hung in front of her blue eyes, that her face was tearstained.

"I know everyone in Hyrule. My name is Sheik."

"You're…a Sheikah, aren't you?"

I nodded. I knew why she was looking awed; the Sheikah were dying out even more quickly than ever before.

"I am the most talented son of the Sheikah line."

"What are you doing here?" she asked. She was clutching the reins of her horses very tightly, and I could tell that life with Ingo had made her as jumpy as an abused pony. But she would never admit weakness.

"I am here to help you."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And what do you want in return?"

This accusation surprised me, but I suppose young girls don't generally expect to get something for nothing from young men. "I know what you've been through," I told her, "and I know how much it hurts. The details of my past are easily as painful as yours. I simply wish to restore justice here, in the name of the goddesses."

She regarded me critically for a moment, as though trying to see through me to understand my motives. Finally, she asked, "What can you do for me?"

"Well… if I understand right, Ingo has been giving you some difficulties?"

She brushed her hair from her face and I saw several bruises; they only made me more viciously appreciative for my training in the use of weapons.

"Mister Ingo has always been a problem, but he's worse than ever lately," Malon told me carefully. "I'd be so grateful if you could…" Her voice faded out.

"I wish I could kill him," I replied truthfully. "But I can't find your father to take back ownership of the ranch, and I can't leave it in the hands of a child."

Malon stood up straighter and put her hands on her hips indignantly. "I can't be much younger than you."

"True. And I wouldn't leave the ranch in my own hands, either. Suffice it to say that I will ensure your safety. I have been trained in all the arts of the Sheikah, and Ingo will know it. Just watch."

Dropping the horses' reins, Malon followed me to the door of the house, which belonged to her but served as a residence to Ingo. I inspected, and found the lock a simple one to pick. Within seconds, I had opened the front door.

Ingo was sitting at the dining room table eating. He looked at me and frowned.

"We're closed. What do you want? And why did Malon let you in?"

"She didn't. But she didn't let you in, either."

"This is _my_ ranch. Leave my property at once, or I'll contact your parents. Maybe even the great Ganondorf."

If I hadn't had a motive to kill him before, I did now; anyone who could call that murderer "great" deserved to die. I summoned a dagger to my hand from thin air.

"I am a Sheikah. I move like a shadow. I know your secrets, but you can never know mine."

As I began to move towards Ingo, he stood up sharply and backed away.

"You…you can't kill me!" he stammered.

_He doesn't have any common human consideration or decency. He doesn't have the courage and selflessness of Link_.

"I won't kill you now. But I will warn you. I know what has been going on here, and I don't like it."

"What do you mean? I run an…an efficient and productive business!"

Grasping my blade, I pounced across the room and pinned him against a wall, gripping his collar in both my hands. He gasped and squirmed weakly, but I was too strong for him.

"Pathetic," I spat. "You can't even fight off a child. No wonder you need to beat down someone like Malon in order to build yourself up."

"Malon? This is about _her_? Did she send you?"

"No one sends me. I act where I see defiance of the laws of the goddesses, and what I see here is a crime against nature."

My blade was dangerously close to his throat, and I was snarling in his face like an animal; he didn't dare to move. Swallowing, he asked in a voice that trembled slightly, "So what do you want from me?"

"This is your warning: If you lay a hand on Malon again, I will show no mercy. I will come in the night, and no one will ever see a sign of your existence again. Then where will you be with your '_efficient and productive business_'? I will take pleasure in making you—one of the crawling, spineless, filthy creatures that squirms in the dirt and pledges your allegiance to the king of nothing but evil, Ganondorf—suffer before you die."

Before throwing him to the ground, I spat in his face. I couldn't resist giving him a swift kick in his midsection as well, one aimed just right to cause some minor internal injuries, before showing off my skill by disappearing in a flash of light.

I reappeared, silently, next to Malon outside the door. She had been watching what happened through a window, and she was beaming.

"Thank you," she said, embracing me. I hesitated before hugging her back; what if she wanted to kiss me next?

"I'll return if anything happens to you again," I promised, hoping she would let go of me. Perhaps she sensed my discomfort, because she relinquished her grip.

"I don't think it will," she said, smiling even wider. Then, becoming more serious, she added, "But I still really don't think I can thank you enough."

_Please don't try to thank me anymore_. "That's not necessary," I assured her. "Really, it isn't."

She laughed slightly. "Goodbye, then, Sheik."

Malon turned and began to walk away, humming a song I hadn't heard on Lon Lon Ranch since before Ingo had taken over.

Just as I was leaving, I heard her call back, "Sheik?"

I faced her again, nervously. "Yes?"

"I just wanted to let you know that, if you're looking for the job as my knight in shining armour… sorry. It's already taken." She grinned.

She must have found it odd that I smiled in return. "Of course," I said, knowing to whom she had to be referring. "By the forest boy."

Malon's grin dropped instantly; her face when blank with shock. "You know him?"

My stomach dropped, and I suspected I had made a mistake. "Yes…" I answered slowly.

"Have you seen him? Where is he? He hasn't— I haven't seen him in so long! Is he okay? Has he… Did he… Tell me! Please!" Her voice was desperate, fear was etched into her face, and tears sparkled anew in her eyes.

"He…can't come to you now," I said delicately, hating that I had to deliver this news. "But I've seen him. And he will return."

"Is he all right?"

"Completely."

She relaxed utterly, visibly. "I'm so glad. I'm so relieved."

"I can tell."

She looked at me for a moment.

"I thought—" She cut herself off and dropped her gaze. "Maybe it's stupid, but I thought… he would save me."

"Do you love him?" I asked in a quietly distinct voice. I knew it was a very personal question, but I wanted to know. She was a sweet girl, the type who deserved that sort of love.

Lifting her chin, her tears more visible in the light of the moon, she replied with a confidence that struck me as feigned, "Yes. And maybe that's stupid, too, but I don't care."

I shook my head. "It's not stupid at all."

_He'll save the world_.

* * *

Years later, when everything was over, Malon and I became friends, though she didn't realize at first that I was the Sheikah boy who had saved her. I remember in particular one conversation that we had about him.

"I always wanted to ask him," she told me, "and it drove me insane that I never did, if he thought Link loved me, too."

In truth, it had always bothered me, too, that she never asked.

"Does that matter now?" I asked her.

"I just would have liked to hear what he had to say," she said with a shrug.

"Well, I have a feeling he would have said that… he didn't know, but he was sure you would find all the love you deserved in life, and if the goddesses willed you to be with Link, then nothing could prevent him from loving you."

And so I would have.

* * *

The incident at Lon Lon Ranch put me on the map as a hero; that is, a very secret hero. Ganondorf was not yet skilled at establishing intelligence and espionage, which quickly put to rest Impa's initial fears that he would hunt me down as a dissenter. Rule-breakers under Ganondorf, apparently, died only if they gave themselves away.

Soon I was saving people all over Hyrule—families whom the Gerudo warriors had robbed, found their possessions mysteriously returned; children who lived on the streets received food and warm clothes from a shadowy stranger who visited them; monsters that occasionally got into Kakariko Village turned up dead or disappeared altogether… Because none of this really helped the overall situation, since there was always more suffering to replace that which went away, history would not remember it. It mattered, though, to the individuals living in the present, the people for whom this was more important than history. It was life.

I heard three whispered words on the lips of Hylians from where I hid and watched: "mysterious," "shadow," and "Sheik." I heard my own words quoted dramatically as villagers recounted their stories to intently listening audiences: "I am the most talented son of the Sheikah line," or else "I act where I see defiance of the laws of the goddesses." They became my slogans.

Impa and I discussed my new fame. I found it humourous, in a way, that people didn't realize their queen was the one saving them.

"I've heard that Sheik is quite the heartthrob," Impa told me one day, eyes sparkling with laughter though her face remained serious. "You should hear the stories girls are making up about you sweeping them off their feet and pledging your undying love."

I performed a mock faint and dainty sigh, "Oh, I can't go a moment without you!" I trilled. "You're the only light in my life, Sheik!"

We both laughed.

"Yeah," I said, recovering, "I've heard all the stories. _You_ should hear some of the propositions these girls come up with."

"Oh, really?" asked Impa, a smile quivering on her lips.

I nodded, smirking. "Let's just say any guy in Hyrule would kill to be Sheik. But I don't have time for it. The only women Sheik loves are the goddesses… and the rightful queen."

Giving me a warning look, Impa added crisply, "Assuming she's still alive. Most don't think she is."

I frowned. "They should have more faith. Zelda is stronger than most, or else the goddesses wouldn't have chosen her to rule." I was acting more sure of this than I felt.

"They don't know that."

Her tone had a finality that suggested we should change the subject.

Lost in thought, I looked around. We were at the edge of Lake Hylia again, one of my favourite places to set up camp, drying out in the sun the clothes we had just washed. On the other side of the lake was no shore, only cliffs so high I couldn't see beyond them. Since the day I had first seen those cliffs, I have wondered what lay there, on the other side of the world. At first, I had a feeling it was either a land of blissful paradise or a land of horrific suffering, and whichever one it was, our world was the other. But if I couldn't even tell which side this world was, then what would be the difference between it and the other?

Before I could do more than open my mouth to articulate these thoughts, Impa said, "The Sheikah are in trouble."

"Why?"

"You know our numbers have been decreasing steadily. Lately, it's been at least ten Sheikah deaths a week. Even being able to move like shadows hasn't helped us."

My stomach felt suddenly cold and heavy. "But… Are Ganondorf's forces… His monsters couldn't possibly be stealthy enough to catch the Sheikah!"

"Most aren't. Some are." She sighed, looking at her empty hands where they sat in her lap. "Sheik, you have been the saviour of so many, but there is something I must do. It is my duty as the hero of the Sheikah, and I can't give up my duty just because there is another hero now."

"At least let me help you! What must we do?" I jumped to my feet as Impa stood more slowly.

"You must wait for me to return. This is my chore."

As I watched Impa start to walk away, the words of Nayru were running through my mind, about how all the Sages would be threatened and I had to protect them. Desperate, I called out, "Impa, _please_ don't do this alone!"

Impa stopped and turned back to ask, "Why can't you let me go?"

"Because… I'm worried about you."

Impa smiled to reassure me. "I'll be fine."

* * *

I paced the shores of Lake Hylia all night like a concerned mother, waiting for Impa to return. At roughly two o'clock in the morning—I could tell time by the sun and moon now—I saw a silent figure approaching, and I recognized its gait.

"Impa," I sighed, letting out a relieved breath. When she came closer, I called, "I'm glad to see you're okay."

She didn't answer. She was looking in my direction, but her eyes weren't focused on me. When she drew level with me, she said shortly, "You should know better than to call out to me. What if I was a Gerudo?"

This was a strange comment; she should have known I could never mistake one of Ganondorf's minions for her.

"Impa, is something wrong?"

"Yes," she replied, still very shortly. "I don't think I succeeded."

_She should have let me help her_. The knot which had disappeared briefly when I saw her returning safely rematerialized instantly in my stomach. "What? What do you mean?"

Rubbing her face with her hands, Impa explained, "I was trying to deal with a monster that haunted the Sheikah people years ago. I trapped it when I was young, and it almost broke out last week. Today, I was reinforcing the barriers behind which I trapped it long ago, but I think it will escape soon regardless."

My eyes widened. "No, Impa, it can't be! I'm sure you did it, I'm sure!" I protested with childish firmness. "You're the hero of the Sheikah, the great Impa!"

Impa laughed sadly as she untied her horse; we had to move on that night. "Oh, Sheik. You don't understand. When I was the great Impa, I was young. I could do anything. I was more…nimble, fast, strong than I am now. The years haven't been kind to me as they have been to you."

"You're talking like you're old and on your deathbed," I told her bitterly, grasping Umikae's reins and swinging up onto his back. Impa laughed slightly again.

"Well, I'm certainly not going to be on my deathbed any time soon, but…" She paused, then asked, "Just out of curiosity, Sheik, how old do you think I am?"

I watched her mount her horse, considering. "Maybe thirty-four," I decided. "Thirty… seven at the oldest."

"You flatter me," she said with a smile, urging her horse on. "We're going to settle in the foothills of Death Mountain for a couple of days, just outside Kakariko. We'll have to stop midway late in the morning—"

"How old _are_ you?"

Looking me straight in the eye, as she always did when she was about to tell me something I wouldn't believe, she said, "Fifty-four."

"_You're_…?" I cut myself off, trying not be so rude with my blatant shock. "Sorry, but that's a little hard to believe!" I said, slightly more civilly.

Impa laughed at my gaping expression. "I'll consider that a compliment."

* * *

It wasn't until late that afternoon, as we rode through the unguarded gate up to Death Mountain, that it occurred to me to ask Impa about the monster.

"What that thing?" I asked. "The thing you locked away today?"

"Oh," she sighed wearily. "It was a demon of dark magic that haunts the Shadow Temple. Once, the Shadow Temple was a holy place to the Sheikah, but the evil monster called Bongo Bongo turned into a place full of creatures like itself. I locked Bongo Bongo away, but still…" She sighed again. "Now the Shadow Temple is nothing but a reminder of the legacy of Hyrule's bloody history."

_Shadow Temple_?

Again, Nayru's words soared through my mind on faint wings: Temples…Sages…everything Link would have to do…and Impa didn't think she had truly locked the beast away…

"Sheik?"

I blinked, tearing my eyes away from the nothingness I was staring at to look at Impa instead, before saying eloquently, "Huh?"

"You looked like you were a little phased out."

"It's nothing. I was just lost in thought."


	7. Revolution

Chapter Seven—Revolution

For two and a half years, I was the hero of the oppressed people of Hyrule—but the world under Ganondorf remained cruel. I could not help with the overwhelming problems, the grand scale social upsets and traumas, and though I had always known this, the innocent citizens of my kingdom were only just finding out. The talk about me changed; instead of hailing me as a saviour of all people, they now considered me the last good man, the symbol that Hyrule would not go down to evil without fighting. They were all convinced, however, that in the end, it would go down.

I tried to restore people's faith by adding a new line to my repertoire: "Long live Queen Zelda." It did little, except give people further cause to call me a wishful thinker, hoping in a world without hope. It was truly ironic how much that sentence came to be Queen Zelda's epitaph.

I was the only one still praying, and I did it with all my heart. Someone had to. Hyrule would not go down.

_There's hope as long as the goddesses reign…_

_ Link will come when he is ready…_

_ Oh, please, Link, hurry…_

As the months until Link's foreordained return ticked away, I felt as though I was on my last gasping breaths before my death. Then, as if to signal that Ganondorf was reaching the peak of his power and was ripe to be overthrown—it happened.

First, the Zoras were targets. Their protests were becoming less and less peaceful, to culminate with a march up to Hyrule Castle. Except it never happened.

I had a dream the night before it was to take place, in which I saw Ruto, trapped and unable to move. As Link fought off minions of evil, I knew it was futile, for the Sage of Water was trapped.

I woke up knowing that Ruto was about to need my protection, and after hastily telling Impa that I was needed, I rode as fast as I could to Zora's Domain.

When I arrived, I found what looked to me like every Zora in Hyrule, all congregating in the middle of their realm. They surrounded a platform on which stood Princess Ruto, speaking loudly to them. I perched on a high rock ledge, out of sight, and listened to her impassioned speech.

"We have served the good of this world for centuries by guarding its water, its source of life! Ganondorf has not given us the respect we deserve! He has polluted and destroyed the lifeblood not only of our people, but of _all_ people! Today, let us rise up against him and reclaim our rights!"

The crowd cheered, but the sound died away quickly. A loud voice boomed out over it. I hadn't heard that voice for nearly seven years, but I knew it; I would never forget it.

"YOU WILL NOT DISSENT TO MY RULE!"

The Zoras murmured in fearful confusion, looking around uncertainly. Only Ruto was remotely confident now, glaring around as if daring Ganondorf to say that again.

"ANY WHO QUESTION THE AUTHORITY THE GODDESSES GAVE ME WILL DIE FOR THEIR TREASON!"

As his words echoed away, there fell a ringing, horrifying silence that quivered with a suspense so complete I could feel it crushing my heart.

Suddenly, a Zora screamed. Then came more cries of terror and panic as all realized what was happening.

Frost was forming at the edges of the water, and spreading quickly, its intent unmistakable. The entirety of Zora's Domain was freezing over, and its people would be trapped. They moved to climb out of the water, but blasts of arctic wind sprang up, blowing them fiercely about, tossing the water and their bodies. They would all be sealed away.

With a jolt of horror, I heard Ruto shriek, and saw her blown easily off her feet to be thrown into the water; I reacted on impulse, flinging myself from my ledge into the violent waves of the grotto which was usually so calm.

"Ruto!" I screamed, trying desperately to fight towards her and not lose her in the confusion. "Ruto!"

I saw her hand—I don't know how I knew it was hers, but somehow I did—sink beneath the waves. I dove down, swimming under the thousands of kicking limbs of the Zoras trying desperately to escape. The water shut out their screaming.

There was Ruto, caught underneath her own people. She wouldn't drown, but she would be frozen in the fast encroaching ice, and then my nightmare would come true.

She saw me swimming towards her and cried out with joy, "Sheik!"

She reached for me, and I for her… the water grew suddenly colder… above us, some Zoras had stopped moving… I could see ice spreading towards us, crackling, crystalline, too fast…

Sheikah magic wouldn't work underwater; I couldn't transport us the short distance I would have been able to on land. I grabbed Ruto's hand and pulled us both further down to the underwater doorway that led to Lake Hylia. She was growing weak and lethargic; I could feel her dead weight behind me. Zoras cannot cope for long in low temperatures.

I was struggling to make it. My lungs felt on the verge of exploding. Finally, I saw light above me, and I pushed off the bottom of Lake Hylia. The feeling when my head burst through the surface was one of the most beautiful ones in my life. The air was cold and seared my lungs, but it was _beautiful_…

I lifted Ruto's limp body in my arms and lay her down on the shore, then collapsed next to her. Exhaustion struck me in a wave.

Ruto recovered first from our difficult journey, and rolled over onto her back as I was still choking, spluttering and coughing, bent double, my head spinning. When I had managed to pull myself together enough to pull myself up to a sitting position, she spoke first.

"Thank you, Sheik," she said quietly, staring at the sky.

"You're welcome," I replied hoarsely, noticing that it didn't strike me as much of a surprise that even Zoras knew who I was.

Ruto remained lying still as I stood up and tried to wipe the mud and grass off of my clothes. Then she spoke again, in the same quiet, dull voice.

"Everyone's trapped."

I paused to glance at her, but saw no discernible emotion on her face. I coughed again convulsively. "They're alive, though, aren't they?" I asked, for lack of anything better to say.

"Yes. But what's the good in living sealed under a sheet of ice? That's not life, by anyone's definition. It's no better than living as…as disrespected slaves."

I didn't know what to tell her. She was right.

Abruptly, she shifted to a sitting position and shouted, "Damn him! What is he trying to do?! Why does he want to make everyone suffer?! What did Hyrule do to deserve him?!"

She stood up turned around, screaming out into the wind that blew northward from over the lake, "DAMN YOU, GANONDORF! Do you hear me?! I hope you _die_! I hope the goddesses punish you for this! I hate you! I hope you _suffer forever_! You deserve it!"

I was tempted to shriek a few wishes of my own onto the breeze: _I hope you endure the pain I have. I hope you endure the pain my parents did. I hope you get back what you've given out, three fold_.

"I hope Link twists the Master Sword in your heart," I growled, fists clenched.

Ruto turned sharply to me, angry tears glittering in her eyes. "Wh…what did you say?"

"Nothing," I said quickly.

"No… You said something about Link…"

I didn't answer. Ruto fiercely wiped her tears away and said, "Tell me where he is. He left me, and we're engaged to be married. Tell me where my fiancé is!"

She put her hands on her hips bossily, and I couldn't help thinking that Malon stood a much greater chance of winning Link's affection that Ruto did.

"You can't know," I said flatly. With Sheikah magic, I disappeared in a flash.

* * *

Ganondorf didn't stop with the Zoras.

His next targets were the other rebelling race, the Gorons. I was prepared for him to seek vengeance against them; it seemed likely after what had happened to Ruto's people. So it was that I stationed myself for several days outside Goron City, waiting…

Nothing happened, but I was not fool enough to get my hopes up with each uneventful moment that passed. I was the most talented son of the Sheikah line, and I would not fall into a state of false security. I kept my senses tuned, like a predator watching for prey. Or like prey watching for predators.

"Come on, we're almost there!" called a voice. It was a female, speaking with the distinct accent of the western desert. It was time; I darted into Goron City to make my way to the throne room and warn Darunia.

Unfortunately, the daughters of the Gerudo race are at least as talented as the sons of the Sheikah race.

No sooner had I entered the city than dozens of warriors on horseback had stormed it; I flattened myself against a wall, hidden in a shadowy niche, and watched them fly past me. By the time I deemed it safe to emerge from my hiding place, the underground fortress was a battlefield.

The Gorons were fighting mightily against their would-be captors, who were attempting to knock them unconscious and bind them, but many were losing the battle. I saw more than one fall from a Gerudo arrow to the back or a swift blow to the head; the women were treating their limp bodies like luggage, piling them up to take them away once the fighting was over. They had no regard for the Gorons' well-being; they were treating them like animals. I had to get to Darunia before it was too late.

Ganondorf's troops were so involved in their fighting that getting past them unnoticed would have been easy even without my stealth skills. As it was, I slipped through cracks, hid behind rocks, jumped along ledges and made my way, uninhibited, to the throne room. I hoped Darunia was still safe.

Of course, I was forgetting that his name mean's "mountain's strength," and he was living up to it. He was outside the throne room, fighting more viciously than any of his people, taking on several Gerudo at once with surprising success. He began barking orders the instant he spotted me.

"Sheik! Don't worry about me right now! Save my son!"

With an almighty effort, he slammed his shoulder into a Gerudo standing between us, nearly toppling over next to me. In a low voice, he explained quickly, "His name is Link. Find him and get him out of here. Take him to the place where you've been hiding all this time."

"You knew—?"

"We both knew this would happen. Go!" he bellowed, as he had to resume the fight; the soldiers he had knocked back only moments ago were on their feet again and apparently still ready for a brawl.

I went; Darunia was one of the strongest leaders the Gorons ever had, the type of person whose mere presence commands respect, loyalty and obedience from everyone who encountered him, be they Goron, Hylian, or anything else.

"Link!" I cried as I ran. "Prince Link!" I didn't know if that was his title, but it seemed good enough. He was bound to know what I meant.

"Sheik!" called a quiet but distinct voice to my left. I stopped instantly and whirled around. Behind me, hidden in a small, dark crevice in the wall that looked like simply a large crack in the wall, was a Goron. Judging by the pitch of its voice, because it was difficult to use anything else, this was a female.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Link is here," she whispered, crawling back and disappearing into the crevice; apparently it led somewhere, though it didn't look like it. I followed.

She took me to a hidden chamber, a small and simple room inside the wall that didn't appear to ever be used. Other than the Goron whom I'd followed, there was another, a small one, very clearly a child, who was looking around fearfully and positively trembling.

"Link?" I asked, smiling kindly.

The small Goron flinched and shrank back. "Who are you?"

"Your father asked me to take you somewhere to protect you. I think the best thing to do would be to just stay here, though."

Tears in his eyes, Link nodded.

"Darunia asked you to look out for us?" asked the female Goron, frowning.

"Well, he did only mention Link, really…" I explained awkwardly. The Goron sighed.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

When she didn't offer any further explanation, I began, "If you don't mind my asking…"

"Oh," she sighed, sensing my question. "I'm Link's mother. Darunia wanted to marry me, years ago, but I wasn't raised to be a queen and it wasn't something I wanted. I consented to give him an heir and to raise the child, but not to be his wife."

There was a wistful undercurrent in her voice, and she was looking out at nothing. I wanted to ask more, but suddenly—

"It was coming from here."

"It's quiet now."

"Of course it is. They heard us coming."

Gerudo voices were just outside. I cursed myself for not staying silent and warning the Gorons to do the same. Now all I could do was draw my dagger and prepare to defend the three of us.

I crept to the edge of the chamber, to a place where I could see out of the crevice through which I'd entered, without being seen. There were three Gerudo standing there. With luck, I could stay where I was and I wouldn't have to use my dagger at all.

I palmed some throwing stars and aimed; when all if them were facing away. I moved sharply—three hits, and they went down. I let out my breath and returned to Prince Link and his mother.

"I took care of them," I said in a whisper. "But we should be quiet. More will come, they'll find those three, and we don't want them to put the pieces together."

* * *

Waiting was agonizing. It was a sign that I was becoming a true Sheikah that I couldn't stand to sit still. Finally, I heard in the distance a voice I recognized. Link obviously did, too.

"It's Dad!" he squeaked, I nodded, we listened in silence. I knew they, like me, were hoping that this sound meant the siege was over.

When the voice came closer, I heard what it was shouting: "Kokiri! Kokiri!"

Before I could ask, Link exclaimed, "It's the password!" He clambered quickly out of the chamber in which we were hidden without waiting for permission. His mother and I followed.

"Link! There you are!"

Darunia ran up to us as we emerged and embraced Link, then held him at arm's length to look him over.

"You're all right. Praise Din. And you, Sheik," he turned to me, "thank you for protecting him."

"Thank Queen Zelda, if you will thank a mortal, for it is through her righteous will that the goddesses speak and act. She is the true queen and the goddesses will not allow the usurper who took her title to remain in power."

Speaking in a lofty, spiritual way was a habit I had developed in order to keep my identity elusive.

Darunia gave an approving grunt. "I hope and pray you're right. Faith tells me you must be, but it's hard to believe when I see things like what just happened here… all my people imprisoned, and myself left powerless to help them…" His teeth were gritted, and his face clenched with self-loathing.

"It was no fault of your own," I said to him. "Even the greatest kings cannot prevent some victories for the king of evil itself. Though he may have won this battle, so long as there remain those people in Hyrule who pledge allegiance to Queen Zelda and the goddesses, Ganondorf shall have no victory it the war."

Darunia sighed and murmured, more to himself than to me, "Are there any such people left?" More loudly, he said, "I would like a private word with you, if I could."

"Certainly."

We walked out of earshot of Link and his mother, whom I heard saying something about going home, and Darunia said, "You speak often of Zelda as the true queen of Hyrule."

"Indeed, for she is."

"I had heard she was…" he cleared his throat uncomfortably, "cruelly murdered by the Gerudo in Ganondorf's Coup when she would not submit to be heir under him instead of her father. I may even have heard, though I'm not sure, that you yourself saw them disposing of her body."

"Ah… The truth has been manipulated," I said carefully; I took care to avoid mentioning who had done the manipulating.

"Then she's not dead?"

"I was a mere child during the coup. I heard Ganondorf say that he or his forces might kill Her Majesty. I saw what I believed to be her dead body but now doubt truly was."

"Do you remember it clearly enough to be sure?"

"No, the fact is that I do not. But I simply do not believe that the goddesses would allow the true queen to die, and my own shaky testimony is not evidence enough to say that she has."

Darunia looked down and didn't reply. Something about his silence made me think that he felt sorry for me for believing in a pipe dream.

"Do you know why I named my son Link, Sheik?"

The question was a surprise. I couldn't think of an answer that would be consistent with my story as I had presented it to him; yes, I had told some people I knew Link, but when different people had contradicting stories about me, it helped to conceal and confuse the truth. I had to make sure that I personally, however, only told people things that fit.

Carefully, I asked, "Is it not a Goron name?"

"No. It is Hylian. I named him after the hero of our people, a boy who came from the forest and saved us all from starvation years ago. Perhaps you know him?" Darunia looked at me quickly, his eyes widening in hope.

"To a certain degree," I replied, still watching myself. "I have heard other speak of him. He is a Kokiri, I believe, if he came from the forest?"

Darunia paused. "Yes," he agreed. "But, if so, why does he have a Hylian name? And why is he able to leave the forest?"

His apt observations surprised me; no one else had pointed out such things, and I hadn't really noticed them, either. "I couldn't say," I said honestly. I still didn't understand how Link could be a Hylian.

"Link the Kokiri is my sworn brother," Darunia continued. "We pledged to help each other always. Yet I haven't seen or heard anything of Link since Ganondorf's Coup. In my time of need, where is my brother?"

I could tell, though Darunia kept his voice casual with only a hint of curiosity, that he felt betrayed.

I could have made up some story—he was only a child, he didn't understand what "sworn brothers" meant, he had been killed in some adventure or another, he had returned to the forest and could no longer escape. I could have simply said that I didn't know Link and couldn't guess where he was. Except I couldn't; Darunia needed the truth.

"Many people have asked me if I know why Link, the boy who helped them, saved them in the past, has done nothing to help them now. To them I can say only this: I cannot tell you why he has not helped you, other than to say it has been beyond his power. I can say, however, that he will soon come, and he will not turn in fear from any challenge, however great. As They are with the true queen, Zelda, so are the goddesses with Link."

* * *

Ganondorf had now made moves against three Sages: Nabooru, Ruto and Darunia. I presumed that Rauru was an exception and would remain untouched, since he was safe in the Light Temple in the Sacred Realm. That left only Saria and Impa in danger.

Saria… I didn't know who she was. I would have to go to Kokiri Forest to find out; meanwhile, the time until Link's return was disappearing. Only a few weeks remained.

Entering Kokiri Forest is deadly to Hylians; the air is permeated by the pollen of the Great Deku Tree, the guardian spirit of the forest, which causes horrifying damage to our lungs. It sticks to them on the inside, at once preventing them from taking oxygen into our bodies and tearing them so that they bleed. I knew this even then. I had heard horror stories of entire armies, sent to conquer the forest, killed in hours as they suffocated, drowned in their own blood, coughed it up until their lungs collapsed… I didn't want this to happen to me.

Fortunately, the goddesses didn't, either. I experimented with combinations of real magic and potent medicinal herbs whose secrets were known only to the Sheikah, until I found away to create a sort of filter or shield around myself through which I could breathe. Though it was strong and wore well, it was also quite complex, and left me wondering even further how Link could move so easily between the two worlds and survive equally well in two such different atmospheres.

With my shield intact, I left for Kokiri Forest. Impa, with whom I'd been spending less and less time since I'd acquired more heroism duties, didn't even ask where I was going. It worried me that we were drifting apart, but I tried to put it out of my mind. I reassured myself that Impa and I would never be separated; we could always find each other, because there was a force that connected us like the poles of magnets and could never break.

Though I knew I was protected, I was still nervous about entering the forest. My only experience in this area was one brief encounter with Link, and I didn't know how he fit in to the picture of this society. What would it be like? What were the Kokiri people like? What was Saria like? The arts of the Sheikah are not designed for the world of the forest, and I knew I would be distinctly misplaced there.

I tied my pony outside the entrance to the mysterious, mythical place and went ahead alone, expecting… I didn't know what.

I could never have expected what I found.

Kokiri Forest was largely cleared, and filled with the houses of children. These houses were carved into the trees without killing them, and these children wandered around the open space freely. They were all dressed in green, in a casual manner similar to Link's, and I saw a sparkle fluttering by each head—fairies. The whole place was so…civilized!

There stood a guard by the entrance, and as soon as he saw me, he stepped out in front of me with arms folded stubbornly. He wasn't at all intimidated by the imposing and mysterious profile of Sheik.

"What do you want? No grown ups are allowed here! Great Deku Tree said so! He said so a long time ago, before he died."

"The Great Deku Tree is _dead_?" I gasped. This was about the worst thing Ganondorf could have done.

"You didn't know that? He died long time ago… Link killed him."

"_What_?!" It was lucky that none of these people knew my character, because I all but dropped it in shock at these words. Link, a murderer? A traitor? But he was a hero!

"Yeah, it's true! Mido was guarding the Great Deku Tree 'cause he was sick, and Link said he was s'pposed to go talk to the Great Deku Tree, and Mido let him, and when Link came out the Great Deku Tree was dead! Link said the Great Deku Tree died on his own, but Mido doesn't believe him because right after that Link left and he hasn't hardly been back since."

"When was the last time Link was here?" I asked suspiciously. Maybe there was a different Link; the one I knew would _never_ kill the Great Deku Tree, I was sure of it.

"Dunno," answered the guard with a shrug. "Long time ago. Years ago. Not long after the Great Deku Tree died. Saria misses him. Mido doesn't."

Saria… That confirmed it, there was only one Link, but I still couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Who's Mido?" I asked, to change the subject.

"Our leader. He doesn't like Link because Link never had a fairy, so Mido figures he's not a real Kokiri."

_He's right_. "Can you tell me where Saria is?"

Considering me, the guard said, "She told me she's in the usual spot, and that that's what I should tell Link when he comes back, 'cause he'll know what it means. But I don't think he's gonna."

"Know what it means?"

"Come back."

I wanted to tell the boy the truth about Link, just as I had wanted to tell everyone, but I couldn't. Even though my motivation here was simple human kindness, to tell his old friends and acquaintances that he was alive, it still wasn't my place. Link hadn't told me anything about this world; it was a side of himself he had kept to himself, so I shouldn't interfere where I didn't have to. I now understood why he had been secretive.

"Where's the usual spot?" I asked.

The guard shrugged. "Dunno. Lost Woods, somewhere."

_The Lost Woods? Where children who can't find their way turn into monsters, where one wrong turn can send you into a maze that will drive you mad_…

_I can't do it_, I thought.

"Is there anyone who might know where in the Lost Woods?" I asked nervously.

"Mido, prob'ly. He's in the Lost Woods, too, but I don't think he's in there very far. You could find him okay."

"So you're going to let me in?" I asked with a shrewd smile.

Nodding, the guard said, "The Great Deku Tree told us that if a grown up comes and they don't get sick or anything right away, then they're okay. So you can come in."

He stepped aside.

"Thank you."

Immediately, I noticed that Kokiri Forest was not as idyllic as I had thought at first glance. Oktoroks were visible lurking in even the shallowest pools; Deku Babas stood at attention, waiting to strike, blending with the harmless greenery; Deku Scrub nests dotted the landscape like leafy molehills. These creatures no doubt had not been present here when Link had been growing up. They were the products of Ganondorf's malignant power.

Also, the children weren't wandering as freely as I had thought. Although a few Kokiri were outdoors, they remained close to their houses, walking quickly when they had to cover distances, and didn't stay out for long; a few climbed into the higher branches of their homes, where the earthbound monsters couldn't touch them.

My initial ideas had been wrong. Well, I supposed that I, of all people, should have known better than to judge by first impressions.

"Excuse me," I called to one small boy, who was crouched in a circle of rocks outside of a house. "Could you tell me where the Lost Woods are?"

The boy looked at me, wide-eyed and perfectly still. "Who are you? Are you…a Hylian?"

"I'm a Sheikah."

"What's that?"

The Kokiri had never heard of the Sheikah? "It's another race, another type of people besides Kokiri and Hylian."

This explanation was good enough for the child, apparently. "You're a grown up," he informed me. "You shouldn't go in the Lost Woods. You'll turn into a monster!" Looking fearfully around his home, he added, "We don't need any more monsters."

I nodded sympathetically. "I can see that you don't. But don't worry about me." _I'm going to help get rid of the monsters_.

The boy looked at me a moment longer, then wordlessly pointed in the direction of a path that wound up a hill towards a hollowed tree trunk much like the one that connected Kokiri Forest to Hyrule Field. Presumably, this was the entrance to the Lost Woods.

"Thank you," I said politely.

As I was walking away, the boy called after me, "Hey—if you're from outside… do you know someone named Link? A Kokiri like us?"

Hesitantly, I replied. "Yes. Not very well."

"If you see him, tell him… tell him we don't all believe Mido. We don't all really think that he's a mur— that he killed the Great Deku Tree. Tell him that. And ask him… to come back home."

"I will," I promised, feeling a sudden sadness ache inside me. "But I think there's going to be another grown up coming here soon, one who knows Link better than I do. Why don't you give him the message?"

"Okay," he boy squeaked, suddenly shy. "I hope Link doesn't… I hope he didn't leave because he thinks we hate him."

This conversation froze immaculately in my mind, as a reminder of… I could really be sure what. But from then on, I always turned to it in times when I couldn't remember the basic goodness of people. And of children… If there were no children, where would we be?

* * *

"Only Kokiri with Saria's personal permission past this point!"

Finding Mido's post inside the Lost Woods had taken a manner of minutes. However, the freckle-faced, bow-legged, red-headed little brat stood stoutly before the only route into what was obviously Saria and Link's "usual place," and he wasn't about to move for anything. He wasn't any more intimidated by my towering height and mysterious air than the guard to Kokiri Forest had been; to someone who was used to people talking about me as a living legend, it was more than a little disconcerting to find myself surrounded by people who really couldn't have cared less who I was. Their blind fearlessness was truly remarkable.

No wonder the goddesses had chosen a boy raised in this culture to hold the Triforce of Courage.

"I'm on an important mission," I insisted. "I have to protect Saria!"

Mido snorted. "Saria can take care of herself. The only person she said I could let by is L— Is the boy who's…who's never coming back," he mumbled quietly, glancing down.

"Link?" I demanded snappishly. This little idiot had been holding me up for too long; I was losing my patience. If I had to hit a nerve, I would.

For a moment, Mido's jaw dropped when he snapped his face up to look at me, and he was obviously utterly shocked that I knew the name, but he quickly pulled himself together, folded his arms and said in a would-be casual voice, "I don't know who—"

"Of course you do, it's Link, he's her best friend, isn't he? And he hasn't been here in years, since the incident with the Great Deku Tree that _you_ framed him for, didn't you, you little smart a…uh, aleck," I corrected myself hurriedly. "But anyway, it's not because of you that he hasn't come back, though Nayru knows you made his life enough of a horror that he'd be perfectly justified if that _was_ the reason! He's not here because he can't be right now, even though I'm sure there's nowhere else in this world or any other that he'd rather be! But he _will_ come back, and until then, _I need to talk to Saria_!" I put my hands on my hips and glared at the little bully. Small wonder he and Link didn't get along.

Mido was gaping at me, his eyes popping. He stammered helplessly, yet somehow still stubbornly, "No… You can't… She didn't… Never… Link is… He killed…"

"He killed _no one_, you stupid little liar!" I yelled, shaking with rage. I refused to believe what this boy had been saying about Link. It simply couldn't be true. I whipped out my blade and spat, "_I_, on the other hand, am a Sheikah and I—"

"You're one of Ganondorf's!" cried Mido suddenly, cowering away from me.

_Ganondorf_… I suddenly remembered why I was doing all of this. I remembered my own terror upon seeing Impa kill someone for the first time. Almost without noticing it, I let my blade slip from my fingers and covered my face with both my hands. _Ganondorf_.

There was more, I realized. I had been telling everyone I knew Link, even though I knew the dangers of doing so, even after that argument with Impa years ago. And during my emotional outburst against Mido, it would have been all too easy for the king of evil to slip into my thoughts undetected and see something that was supposed to be a secret.

I lowered my hands and looked around as if I thought I could find reassurance somewhere; I was taking deep breaths to calm myself, my mouth hanging half open. Tears pricked my eyes.

"Are… you okay?" asked Mido meekly, still shrinking back. He was flat up against a tree, and his eyes were even more filled with terror than before.

"I'm not one of Ganondorf's," I told him quietly.

"Then…what are you?"

"I…"

My initial impulse was to say, _I'm one of Zelda's_, but I couldn't. For some reason, I just couldn't.

"I have to go."

I disappeared in a flash of Sheikah magic.

* * *

Impa was already asleep when I returned to our temporary camp near Zora's river. This was fine with me; I needed time to myself. I simply sat down, leaning my arms on my knees, and stared at nothing.

_Link…Link… Mido… Everyone I've talked to… Not just Malon and Ruto, but others. A few people in town knew him… I told everyone… I got so carried away… How could I?_

I had betrayed Impa, betrayed both of us, and she didn't know. I had to tell her.

"Sheik?"

Impa was awake. I could sense her standing behind me. The most reply I could manage was a hoarse, "Uh-huh."

"What's wrong?"

Without moving, I explained slowly, dazedly, "Kokiri Forest… I went and talked to a boy in the Lost Woods… He mentioned…Link…"

"You don't know anyone named Link," Impa told me sternly; I would have bet anything that if I'd turned around, there would have been fear in her eyes.

"But I do… I never told you… I told everyone else… People knew him… they wanted to know if he was coming back, because he left… they miss him… I told them he would come… and I never told you."

Impa was silent. "I see," she finally said quietly. "And… why? How could you know this boy and tell everyone except me?"

I knew what she meant. How could you reveal this one secret? How could you risk everything we've been living for? How could you be so careless?

There was no adequate answer; there was only the truth.

"Because he's my friend… and their friend, too."


	8. Resurrection

**PART TWO**

_And again I see_

_My yesterdays in front of me_

_Unfolding like a mystery_

_You're changing all_

_That is and used to be…_

_On a prayer_

_In a song_

_I hear your voice_

_And it keeps me hanging on_

_Oh, raining down_

_Against the wind_

_I'm reaching out_

_'Til we reach the circle's edge_

_And you come back to me again…_

_When you come back to me again…_

Chapter Eight—Resurrection

Over the following weeks, I was unsure if Impa's silence was a result of mine or the other way around. For the first time in my life, I was also unsure about how she felt. Usually I could read her heart in her eyes, but they had become as steely and unreadable as the rest of her face.

* * *

When the day I had been looking forward to for seven years finally came, I woke up with a knot in the pit of my stomach. After all this waiting, suddenly I would have given anything to not have to see his face again. I didn't want to meet Link when he was the reason why Impa was so unhappy with me—not angry, which would have been easy to cope with, but just disappointed, reminding me why I was disappointed with myself. But destiny wouldn't wait for me to be ready. It never had done before. I had to go to the Temple of Time, to be the Wisdom that would guide the Hero.

I started what felt like the first conversation I'd had in ages with Impa, that day as we prepared breakfast. It was a cloudy and dark morning that looked more like evening—the cloud around Death Mountain which reflected the state of Hyrule was more a ring of fire than anything else, casting the only real light on the land other than the dull glow of the sun on the far side of the thick cloud cover, and that light was a disturbing red. The day felt ominous. This was the world Link would find when he awoke.

"Link's coming back today," I began, cutting right to the topic.

"I know," Impa said bluntly, not looking at me. She was chopping vegetables.

"I… I have to go meet him."

"I know." This time, her voice was quieter and faltered slightly.

"Is that okay?"

"It has to be." Some suppressed emotion was shaking her voice. This was uncharacteristic weakness from a Sheikah.

"Are you…furious at me?" I asked softly.

Impa lay down the knife with which she had been cutting and closed her eyes.

"No," she said finally. "I'm just worried about the world and everyone in it. And you're in the world."

"You're in the world, too."

"Yes, I know." She fingered the blade. "And so is Link."

These comments did not reassure me.

Putting back the dishes I had gotten out for myself, I said in my best attempt at a business-like tone, "It was early morning when Link took the sword, so I should go get ready to meet him. Just in case."

In case of what, I couldn't have said.

"I'll eat something when I get back," I added, trying to find something normal and matter-of-fact to say.

"All right." Impa had resumed cutting her vegetables. She didn't look at me.

Umikae, grazing nearby, gave a small whinny of displeasure when I swung myself up onto his unsaddled back. He never liked running early in the morning, but I cooed soft Sheikah words at him and we set off for the Temple of Time. I had taken to riding bareback recently; after all, I was a Sheikah warrior straddling a wild stallion, not a perfect princess sitting side-saddle on a delicately trained, decorated, pure-blood mare. Umikae preferred riding this way, too, even if it was early, and he was soon galloping with spirit and speed across Hyrule Field.

* * *

It had been years since I had visited Hyrule Castle Town. I dismounted Umikae and stood by the broken drawbridge, looking up…

Past the still Redeads and the hollow shells of buildings loomed a dark castle lit from below with an evil, red light. Once, that castle had been different. Once, it hadn't inspired in me this heartbreaking anger. Once, I had been able to look on it and smile, even laugh. Once, it had been home.

Once. A long time ago. A lifetime ago.

I waded through the river that gurgled past the dead town like blood flowing from a war. I played on my small harp an old song composed for the Royal Family of Hyrule, to calm the Redeads with sunlight, then walked past them, through the deserted town where a faint wind whispered angrily, to the Temple of Time. The sight of it took my breath away.

Though Death Mountain's ominous cloud hung in the sky behind it, the Temple of Time itself remained immaculate, even pristine. Its windows were unbroken, its doors stately, its marble flawless. By some miracle, its surrounding trees were still alive. It stood as a solemn reminder that the power of evil could touch all of life, but the power of good would remain true to its essence.

_There is hope as long as the goddesses reign_.

Inside, the Temple tingled with magical energy. It felt fortified against those forces which had tried to destroy it; it shone white. On an alter at the opposite end of its main chamber hovered the three Spiritual Stones. Link had collected them. As I approached them, I noticed they were emitting a quiet, mystical, humming music that sounded vaguely familiar… I had heard it resonating through the Chamber of the Sages. Somehow, the sight and sound of those Stones made me feel closer to Link, and to the goddesses, and to salvation.

Beyond this alter had always been the Door of Time, a solid stone wall with a design resembling a setting sun carved into its surface, and the image of Triforce carved into its arched frame. Now, the Door simply was not there, and the Triforce glowed gold. Through the door, I saw the small Pedestal of Time where the Master Sword resided. I had only ever seen it before in pictures, years ago; to see it in reality, without the Master Sword, it felt like a sleeping demon. It was a sign that all was not right with the world.

Approaching the Pedestal of Time, I found that it was on a raised dais, around the edges of which were six circles with designs patterned in them. These, too, looked familiar… I had seen them around the edges of the platform in the Chamber of the Sages, brightly coloured. Here they were only shaded stone. Thoughtfully, I circled the dais and examined the designs. Nayru had told me that the Six Sages had six medallions, and I reasoned that these circles must have been images of them.

What else had Nayru told me? I stopped in my pacing, trying to remember all the details. What if I forgot something important? I stared at the Pedestal of Time; a beam of sunlight was drifting innocently over it through the windows overhead, illuminating all the tiny motes of divine dust in the air.

Suddenly, a beam of blue light shot down into the Pedestal from nowhere, blindingly bright and ringing with that same music that filled the Spiritual Stones and the Chamber of Sages.

I jumped back and flung myself into the shadows, throwing my arms up over my face, though the light continued to shine through my eyelids.

In a few seconds, it subsided, and I looked up.

Link stood there.

He looked very different from when I had last seen him, but his identity was unmistakable. He wore the same green tunic, with a white body suit underneath, leather gauntlets that covered his hands and arms almost to the elbows, and leather boots that buckled just below his knees. His ears, both pieced with silver hoops that still looked masculine next to his strong jaw line, showed from underneath the blond hair on which sat his green hat. And his eyes… Those blue eyes and that face had lost the innocent, peaceful look I had last seen in them. Courage was now chiselled into the features I remembered so well, the image I summoned up in times of uncertainty, those features that were now alive with fire and as defined as every muscle in his body. The young, headstrong boy had grown into a man of skill, bravery, strength, and remarkable good looks. My mind stumbled at the sight of him.

Unexpectedly, a sparkling blue fairy swooped out of his hat and whispered into the silence, "We're back in the Temple of Time…but have seven years really gone by?"

Link didn't answer, but looked carefully over the Master Sword that he held in his left hand. He swiped his new weapon through the air, testing its weight and movement with casual grace, then sheathed it approvingly on his back, beneath his shield, before starting to walk away; the fairy darted back into hiding at his hairline, her glimmer disappearing with her. He hadn't noticed me, and I, in my awe at the sight of him, hadn't come forward. I stepped quickly up to the Pedestal of Time and said into the silence that easily carried my voice:

"I've been waiting for you… Hero of Time."

Link stopped; I saw his body tense. Slowly, he reached for his sword and shield as he turned around, his face guarded so as not to reveal his emotions. He drew his weapons sharply and faced me, prepared to fight. I wished the world could have been a place where he didn't have to behave that way to every stranger.

"Who are you?" he asked strongly. His voice, like his body, was now that of a man.

"I am Sheik, survivor of the Sheikah."

"Of the Sheikah? Then are you loyal to the Royal Family of Hyrule?"

I could see that he was ready to strike if I said no.

"My people have always served and pledged loyalty to the Hylian Royals. My queen is Zelda."

Link relaxed, but didn't put away his weapons. "Oh. What do you want?"

"I am to guide you on your quest. You seek to awaken five Sages, to combine their power with yours, to gain the ability to defeat the king of evil, Ganondorf Dragmire."

Apparently content that I wasn't an enemy, Link was letting his guard down a bit, and the formality went with it. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and said in a more natural tone, "And you can help me?"

"You must find the five Temples," I informed him. "One is in a deep forest… One is at the top of a mountain… One is at the bottom of a lake… One is inside a goddess of the sand… One is in the house of the dead."

I found I was shaking slightly. So much had been building to this moment. I had prepared my words so well, and I had tried to prepare myself, but I never could have imagined what being in his presence again, after so long, would do to me. I wanted to cry, to throw my arms around him to make sure he was real, really Link. I wanted to tell him the truth.

"What do I have to do?" he asked, at last putting his sword and shield on his back.

"The first Sage," I explained, wishing my voice would stop trembling, "is a girl I'm sure you know. She lives in the forest in the east."

"Saria!" gasped Link, eyes wide. "Is she okay? What's happened? Tell me!" His voice was as urgent as Malon's had been when she had asked me about him. I wished I knew what, if anything, had happened to Saria, but I had been unwilling to risk returning to Kokiri Forest. I had a horrible suspicion that my neglect had caused some harm to befall her. I tried to steady myself, and remembered my instructions. _Just as thou did not learn thy destiny until necessary, so must Link only receive what information is necessary._

"Equipped as you are, however, you are not yet ready to face the challenges of the first temple," I informed him. "If you believe me, go to the graveyard in Kakariko Village." This was what Nayru had told me, though I didn't know what he needed to do there. I didn't attempt to answer his questions.

Link's teeth were gritted in anger, and his eyes flashed dangerously. "This isn't funny. No damn riddles. Give me a straight answer. Is Saria all right? Is she safe?"

"No one is safe from Ganondorf," I told him.

He didn't answer at first, but continued to glare pure venom at me. Then he muttered, "The Kakariko graveyard… Fine."

"Also," I found myself saying, "people have been searching for you. They seek the hero who helped them in the past."

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" he said, holding out his arms to show himself to me. "But I've got kind of a lot to deal with already, what with trying to save the world and all. Can't someone else help them with their individual problems? Can't you?"

"I am helping them," I told him. I certainly didn't expect him to shoulder all the burdens of the world. "But there is at least one person who I know would give much just to see you again, alive and well. If you could find the time, it would be worth your while to visit Lon Lon Ranch."

"Visit Lon Lon—" He cut himself off, and a strange softness appeared in his eyes that made it easy to believe he had been sleeping peacefully in the Sacred Realm. "Malon…"

I did not feel at all guilty for giving him instructions other than those he needed right then to awaken the Sages; some things are just as important as world peace, and that is one of them.

"Hyrule is a very different place from the home you left," I told him simply.

Link nodded, a distantly pensive look in his face, and walked out of the Temple without another word. His echoing footsteps hailed the resurrection of fierce justice; I walked after him in silence.

I didn't exactly follow Link, but I did watch to see which direction he took after leaving Hyrule Castle Town; he first looked southeast, towards Kokiri Forest, then east, towards Kakariko. He then began to walk resolutely south, towards Lon Lon Ranch.

* * *

When I returned to the campsite where Impa had remained, I found her in a slightly better mood.

"So?" she asked by way of greeting. "You met him? And?"

"And I gave him his task," I told her. "He's taking a bit of time to catch up first. I mean, he hasn't seen Hyrule since…since it was happy, I guess." I paused, then added, "Right now he's at Lon Lon Ranch, I think. He and Malon were…friends when they were kids."

Impa looked at me sharply, to ensure that she had read between the lines properly, and I smirked. She, too, smiled slowly.

"Of course," she said. "Yes… It's important to stay in touch. You should keep an eye on him, though, so that you know how he's getting on with his task."

"I know. Don't worry. I've been working on my telepathy," I told her proudly. "I can get into his mind to see where he is."

Raising impressed eyebrows, Impa said, "You've learned intercorporeal sensory reception… without being detected?"

I smiled. "You haven't noticed when I've done it to, have you?"

Impa nodded approvingly. "All right, then. Let me see."

"Okay…"

What I had to do was spread my consciousness outside of my mind, so that it covered a vast area. When I found my target, Link, in that area, I would focus my attention on that part of my mind which was inside his. It would then be possible for me to receive information into my own mind from any part of his—but if I tried to read the thinking and reasoning parts, he would notice. It was, however, relatively simple for me to access the parts of his mind in charge of basic senses, though I could only do one at a time, and if I wanted to know where he was and what he was doing, it was most useful to access sight. So this is what I did. It took several minutes, but I was soon seeing through Link's eyes.

He was at Lon Long Ranch already; he would have had to run all the way there to arrive so quickly. He was looking around. He spotted Ingo, dressed in fine clothes he hadn't worn seven years ago, and stared for a minute. He approached Ingo, who spoke, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. I switched into the part of Link's brain that received sound, and the visual cut out.

"…my horses?" Ingo was saying.

"Yeah, sure," Link answered.

"That will be ten rupees. And you have a limited time, so—"

"Before I go," Link interrupted him, "I was wondering if you could tell me what happened to Talon."

Ingo snorted. "Talon! He's a fool. No business sense. People will tell you that I cheated him out of this ranch and all his property, but it's not true! He was just a failure, but now I've turned all this into something successful! I, unlike him, was smart enough to curry the favour of the great Ganondorf, instead of insisting on following the old rulers."

"What about Malon? Where's she?"

"Why do you care?"

I couldn't help laughing to myself at Ingo's suspicious tone, remembering my threat.

"I'm a friend of hers," Link replied, a hint of warning annoyance in his voice.

"A… Malon doesn't… No one's come to visit Malon as long as I've ruled here. Almost no one. That I know of. Have you been sneaking onto my property?" His tone was aggressive, to cover his fear.

"No," Link answered coolly. "I haven't been able to visit. I've been indisposed. So is she here?"

"She works for me."

Link said nothing, but he must have done something, because Ingo elaborated hurriedly.

"She helps me keep the ranch, just as she did when her father ruled it. I treat her fairly, and she does good work."

"Right," Link snapped, his voice even colder. "Y'know, I think I'll pass on that horseback ride for now."

The conversation was over. My conscience was telling my I should leave his mind, but I was curious, so I simply switched back to visual reception.

He was walking around the ranch. He tried the door to Ingo's house, but it was locked. He turned around and tried the door to the nearby stables; it opened.

Inside stood Malon, who was watering the cows. When Link entered, she turned to face him, and her mouth dropped open in shock. Quickly, she concealed her obvious joy and relief at the sight of him. She began to speak, smiling warmly.

Here I bowed out, feeling this was none of my business.


	9. Forest

Chapter Nine—Forest

            Every few hours, I checked on Link, because I had to meet him when he arrived at the Forest Temple.  I also had to follow his lead to get there, since he knew the ins and outs of the Lost Woods, and would be able to get past Mido as well.

            Link remained at Lon Lon Ranch long enough to acquire some skill at riding—although I would have been surprised if the goddesses hadn't enhanced his talent at least a little.  When I visited him next, he was riding a horse outside the ranch.  And it wasn't just any horse; to my surprise, it was the prize mare of Lon Lon Ranch, Malon's own personal favourite, Epona.  She may have been the fastest horse in Hyrule, but she was also the most wildly independent, obeying only her mistress.  I was impressed that Link had earned her trust.

            My next visit to his consciousness was strange.  I sensed he was somewhere in Kakariko, but it was nowhere that I recognized.  He was running through some kind of underground cave, following a trail of small fireballs floating on the ground.  I wondered what on earth this could be, but as none of his other senses yielded any helpful information, there wasn't anything I could do to find out.

            Roughly two hours after this, I found him in Kokiri Forest, and I set off after him.  Rather than traveling on horseback, I teleported myself in short intervals, something I could do using Sheikah magic to cover large distances quickly if I knew them well. In this way, it took me only a few minutes to arrive at the place where the Lost Woods met the Forest.  Hiding in the uppermost branches of the trees on this border, I could see some of Link's activities as he explored the town.  He talked to a few people, though I couldn't hear the conversations, and visited a few houses.  There was one house, built entirely in the branches of its tree, for which he apparently had particular affection; he cleared away all the monsters near it before inspecting it thoroughly, inside and out.  When he finally made his way to the Lost Woods, I saw him up close, and I wasn't surprised that his face was tense with dark unease.  I wished I could give him some reassuring words, but there weren't any to say in this world.

            _Things have changed.  You are not a child_.

            I climbed lightly through the branches of the canopy above him, relieved to see that my theory had been correct and Link knew exactly where he was going.  He walked with direction, as anyone would navigate the streets of their hometown, turning at particular places that must have been landmarks to him, though I certainly couldn't see what made them special.  He found Mido even more quickly than I had; the presence of the Kokiri boy was apparently the first thing in the Lost Woods that surprised him.

            "Stop!" said Mido bossily, in the same tone he had used on me before I had scared him.  My stomach squirmed slightly at the memory, but the self-proclaimed leader seemed no worse off for the encounter.

            "Oh, what do you want?" asked Link irritably, folding his arms and looking down at his old enemy.  If it was possible to look less intimidated than Mido at that moment, Link managed it.

            "You may wear Kokiri clothing, but you can't fool me.  You aren't one of us.  No one is allowed past here.  Saria said so."

            Link said nothing for a moment as he considered the child who had once been his leader.  Then he asked evenly, "Not even Link?"

            Mido made a small gagging noise as he cut himself off from speaking.  "No… What?  Who are you?"

            "You're not the first one who didn't know," Link grumbled bitterly, patting himself down as he looked for something.

            "And you're the second grown up to come here!" Mido went on, regaining his composure.  "_And _you're the second grown up who knew about Link!  Do you know some person… some _Sheikah_ person?"

            Link stopped and looked up at Mido; no doubt he realized who the boy was talking about.  But he simply glanced back down and muttered, "No, I don't."

            Before Mido could launch any further protests, Link pulled out the Ocarina of Time.

            The song he played on it was one unlike any I had ever heard before.  It was upbeat and delicate, calling to mind images of children laughing, birds singing, wind in tree branches… No music of Hylians or Sheikah sounded like that.  This was the song of the forest.

            Mido stared at Link blankly.  There was something like awe in his face as he examined the man before him.

            "That's… Saria's Song," he choked.  "She never taught… I…"  He blinked.  "Yes," he said finally, "you can go through… But…"

            He stopped again, still staring carefully at Link, but seeing past him.

            "What?" asked Link uncertainly.

            "It's just that…" Mido said in a vague voice, half talking to himself, "you remind me of… him…"  Clearing his throat, he said more fluently, "Listen, if you know, uh, someone named— If you know Link—"

            "I do."  Link's voice was not quite controlled.

            "Could you please, um… Tell him I'm sorry I was so mean to him.  Please.  Tell him that from me."

            Neither of them spoke for a moment.  Link didn't move, and Mido shifted guiltily where he stood.

            "I will," Link finally said, in a surprisingly gentle voice.  He and Mido avoided looking at each other as he walked past silently.  I looked between them as I followed.  What I had just witnessed seemed much too personal, and I knew that I would never tell Link I had seen it.  Even if someday I told him the truth.  Which, I insisted to myself, I _would_ do.

            Link continued on his way just as he had done before, arriving relatively quickly at a place that looked familiar…

            Silently as a cat, or, more accurately, as a child of the forest, Link approached an open gateway between two rock walls covered in greenery.  He peered around the corner, and saw a large monster that looked like a cross between a pig and a bull—a Moblin.  It was patrolling the aisle, and didn't look like something to be trifled with.  Link would have to either kill it, or simply dodge it, but either way, it would take him time.

            I left the Hero to this, creeping through the tree branches above him and dropping silently onto the walls of rock that flanked the gateway in which he stood, timing his next move.  More of these walls formed a simple maze, on the grassy top of which I now stood.  More of those hideous monsters patrolled the maze, all dressed in chain mail armour and wielding large spears.  I was glad that crossing this maze was, for me, a simple matter of hopping across the tops of the stone walls.  For Link, it wouldn't be so easy; I doubted he could climb up here with all the equipment he carried.

            On the far side of the maze, I found a more difficult challenge.  Two more stone walls stood before me, so high I couldn't see their tops, reached up into the sky amid some of the tallest trees I had ever seen.  Between these walls ran a corridor at the far end of which stood one of the Moblins—a particularly large one, with a club held up in its massive hands, ready to crush intruders.  I couldn't simply skip over this one's head.

            I palmed a throwing star and released it; it hit the brute in the hand which held the club, but he didn't seem to notice.

            As I tried to think of more long distance attacks in my repertoire, since I definitely didn't want to risk hands on combat, I heard a loud cry of pain.  I turned sharply, and saw that the last of the beasts patrolling the maze had fallen with a great, gaping hole in its back.  Link approached where it had fallen, holding in his hand an odd blue object with a large and intimidating point at the end, off of which the monster's blood slid easily.  Link stepped over the body, unconcerned.  I was impressed.

            _That's why he's the Hero_.  I wondered how he would deal with the thing I was facing.

            I watched as he paused before the corridor, considering the situation.  The club-bearing monster didn't move, and I suspected its vision was so poor that Link, dressed in green, blended in against the grass and the moss- and ivy-covered stone walls.  It didn't do anything when Link calmly raised his weapon, squinted one eye shut to aim, and pulled the trigger.

            Suddenly, quickly, the deadly point of the tool shot out, and I saw that it was at the end of a chain.  It could have been deadly, except that it wasn't long enough to reach the great beast.  Link frowned and slid the hookshot back into his tunic.

            Apparently the only thing left for it was to run.  So he did.

            The monster's attack consisted of slamming his club into the ground so that it sent vibrations in a line along the ground.  Link wove back and forth along the corridor, dodging the earth-shaking blows that would have knocked him backwards, until he slipped past the thing to the short staircase its other side.  He then turned back, whipping out his hookshot again, and shot it in the back of the head; just on principle, I think, to prove that nothing and no one gets past the Hero of Time untouched.  It was lucky for me, though, because I could get past the now-paralyzed beast safely.  The instant Link had turned his back, I jumped down and nimbly darted after him.

            When I reached the other side of the corridor, I realized what this place was; the knowledge hit me like a blow to the head.  I had seen pictures of it when Impa taught me the ancient myths.  It was called the Sacred Forest Meadow, and in the days before the first Great Deku Tree, all races of people had come to the Forest Temple here to worship the beauty and power of the natural world.  The Temple itself was atop another high stone wall, which was now overgrown.  The stairs which led to it had long crumbled away, and a single large tree overhung what remained of them.  This was not, however, what Link was looking at.

            His attention was on an old tree stump.  It was perfectly ordinary to me, but Link's whole body had grown tense.  He looked shocked and dismayed at the sight of it, and slowly approached to kneel with his hand on its smooth surface; lowering his head, and I heard him say heavily, "Saria…"

            Of course.  This was "the usual spot," and Saria wasn't here.  I barely had time to be impressed that Link's favourite old hang out was an ancient holy temple before it occurred to me that I had a job.

            When I dropped silently out of the trees, Link jumped to his feet and whirled around aggressively, prepared to defend the heart of his world.  He relaxed when he saw me.

            "The world has changed," I began.  "Nothing is constant except that fact, and one other thing—the power of friendship.

            "The friendship of children grows and matures, as they do, into something deeper.  Something more.  It remains unbreakable, though the world around it may break down and rebuild.

            "You have seen your world become a different place, but your friends are now and shall remain just that… your friends."  I took out my small harp and added, "This song is dedicated to the power of friendship."

            Nayru had told me this, and now I understood why it was true.

            The song I played was slower than the one Link had earlier, but it had the same youthful spirit of life.  He didn't hesitate to copy it on his Ocarina.

            "When you wish to return to this place, play the Minuet of Forest," I explained.  Link nodded slowly.

            "Sheik…" he said, still staring thoughtfully at the Ocarina.  "There's something I don't understand.  Everyone here is still a child.  Why was it only me and none of them who—"

            He looked up and saw that I had gone.  If he had thought to look into the canopy, he would have spotted me hanging above him.  But he merely sighed, and turned his attention to the Forest Temple.


	10. Struggles

Chapter Ten—Struggles

Certainly Link was confused. He didn't know who I was, only that I could come and go at will and give him advice. I, however, had questions of my own.

I wondered about Saria: if she was safe, and if so, where she was; if she was in danger, and if so, what had happened to her.

I wondered about Link: why he didn't know he was a Hylian, why he had come to live as a Kokiri, why he didn't know that the Kokiri remained children forever, why he could survive both in and out of the forest.

Between the two of them, there was a constant knot of worry in my stomach, like that of a mother who doesn't know where her children are late at night. When I told Impa this, she laughed.

"You've always been surprisingly sensitive for a boy, Sheik," she told me. "No… _empathetic _is a better word. Now you know how I feel when you disappear for days on end and don't tell me where you're going."

I smiled guiltily when she gave me a sharp look; I wasn't sure if her comment was meant as a joke or a warning.

* * *

Around midday, I spontaneously developed an unpleasant queasiness in my stomach. I also had a strange hunch, an inexplicable urge to go to the Temple of Time. Fearing the worst and knowing I couldn't ignore the call, I set off on Umikae at top speed. I found myself praying as I rode.

_Please let Link be safe… Please don't let this be something bad_…

Yet I knew this feeling had not come to warn me of something good.

Trusting Umikae to be able to steer, I concentrated and allowed my vision to become Link's. Complicated though it was to perceive one thing with my eyes and another with all my other senses as I rode, I managed to determine that Link was in the Lost Woods. I saw him weaving through the trees, navigating his way along an apparently random path, past Mido, past other landmarks—he was leaving the forest. But did that mean he had conquered the Forest Temple?

Somehow I doubted I would feel sick with worry if that were the case… No, Link was leaving the task unfinished, and he was going to the Temple of Time…and that meant he was going to return to the days of his childhood. But his business was here—no, it was now. Whatever it was, I had to stop him from abandoning it.

Bringing my vision back to myself, I found that we were nearly at Hyrule Castle Town. I jumped off Umikae's back before he even came to a stop, and ran through the town. Redeads lifted their rotting, masked faces towards me as I passed, but I resisted their paralyzing power by weaving between them at a safe distance. One managed to freeze me in my tracks when I was tantalizingly close to the Temple.

"No—" I forced out through gritted teeth. It was a minor setback. I wouldn't let this shrieking demon stop me.

Summoning my Sheikah powers, I teleported myself the short distance to the Temple's doors. I flung them open, slammed them shut behind me, and slumped against them, my heart pounding from the brief close call.

The usual unearthly silence filled this place. The Spiritual Stones hummed over their resting places. The Pedestal of Time stood empty in a ray of golden sunlight full of drifting dust motes. Everything was as it had been when last I had seen this place, and I had to guard it.

Walking across the Temple of Time was always hard; I felt like I was very conspicuous, under the gaze of the goddesses. I couldn't help looking around uneasily and wishing that my footsteps weren't so loud, though they were already so quiet that even I could barely hear them.

I stood by the Pedestal, waiting. With a horse like Epona, I imagined Link would get to the Temple fairly quickly. I wasn't wrong.

The doors to the Temple opened heavily, and there stood Link, framed by them, backlit by the dull sun, the Master Sword in his left hand and the Hylian Shield on his right arm. He sure knew how to make an impressive entrance, like a true hero.

"Sheik," he said, not sounding surprised. Though he spoke at normal volume, his voice carried easily through the silence. I didn't answer him.

"Do you have something to say?" he pressed, crossing the threshold towards me.

"You can't do this," I said shortly. "You can't give up."

He stopped where he was, halfway across the Temple. "What?" There was an unusual edge in his voice, but I brushed aside the part of me that noticed it.

"You heard me."

"I'm not _giving up_," he told me scornfully. "I just need to go back and do something."

"Something more important than saving Saria?" I blurted. "More important than being her friend? This is about loyalty, Link."

I instantly wished I hadn't spoken; he went white with rage and strode towards me furiously.

"You take that back," he snarled. "Don't you _dare_ accuse me of that! Don't you dare _ever_ say that to me! You don't know what you're talking about!"

He drew level with me, dropped his sword and shield to the floor in a clatter of metal on stone, and grabbed me by the neck of my clothes. I struggled to keep my face covered, but he didn't notice.

"Do you understand me?" he growled threateningly.

"I… You can't go back…"

"Fine. Don't let me. But don't you _ever_ say that I'm not a loyal friend! Do you _understand me_?" he demanded, shaking me roughly by the collar.

"I'm…"

"I said, _do you understand me_?!"

"Yes… I'm sorry."

He let go of me brusquely, and I dropped on my feet onto the stone floor, which I hadn't realized he had lifted me off of, almost losing my balance. Link didn't notice or care; he was already picking up his sword and shield and storming away. I watched him go, thinking…

_He's fearless enough to be a True Hero_.

After giving Link a few minutes' head start, I slipped silently out of the Temple, crept past the Redeads, and mounted Umikae where he had been waiting outside the gates. Link's words were still in my ears.

"Don't you _ever_ say that I'm not a loyal friend!"

Loyalty. I had no doubts about his loyalty, although I knew my rash comments suggested otherwise. Why was he so concerned about being seen as a person who put his friends first? He must have dealt with accusations like those before…

* * *

What I didn't realize then, and wouldn't realize for many years, was that Link had been living with accusations of disloyalty since he had left Kokiri Forest. The rumours Mido had started about him never did stop haunting him, even years after he had established a new life as an adult in Hyrule and had reconciled his feud with his old enemy.

His supposed killing of the Great Deku Tree was what started everything else; it was something that he never could or would completely put behind him. While I had blown off the tales I had heard about it as ridiculous, they were not so easy to forget for someone to whom the Deku Tree was the centre of the universe. To him and to all Kokiri, it was more than just a heartless murder—it was the act of ultimate betrayal.

* * *

That night, I had a dream that I knew was clairvoyant. It was fragmented, rather than a smooth sequence. I saw brief flashes of what was happening, followed by periods of dark silence. It was also much more blunt than my usual prophetic dreams, which typically got their point across using symbols, and it unnerved me.

A circular room hung with paintings, like an art gallery, except that each painting showed the same image of a forest path at night leading towards a dark and sinister-looking castle off in the distance—

In the room were two figures; the first one I noticed was suspended in mid-air in a pale rose crystal— It was a young girl, and I knew, though I had never seen her before, that it had to be Saria—

She was dressed all in green, her shorts, sweater and boots, even her short, light green hair, and I'm sure her eyes, too, would have been green if they were open, but she hung limply in the crystal, unconscious—

A fairy sparkled on her shoulder, but since she wasn't moving, neither was it; its wings drooped, and its glimmer was throbbing dully— Ganondorf had her, she was trapped—

Electric fear seized me, even in my sleep, when I noticed the other figure— There, sitting on his midnight black steed, a large and deadly sceptre in his hand, grinning demonically up at his prisoner, was Ganondorf himself— I could hear his laughter booming out, echoing around the room as though there were dozens of him—

Saria's eyes fluttered— She twitched as though dreaming— She was starting to move, regaining consciousness—

She was wide awake again, having apparently remembered where she was. She was pounding furiously against the crystal, shouting in rage, but I couldn't hear any more than muted, indistinct cries— She reminded me of Link now; there was no fear in her eyes, though they shone with tears, only fire and grim determination—

Ganondorf only laughed at her, and she kicked the crystal wall in frustration—

A strange noise outside that sounded like something large and heavy was rolling across the floor— Saria and Ganondorf both looked towards it, with identical expressions of surprise and fear—

The crystal containing Saria disappeared— Ganondorf and his horse jumped into one of the paintings in a violent purple swirl—

Link was coming.

He entered the gallery—

Ganondorf took off his mask— Underneath was no face, just a monstrosity— He was a Phantom—

Link drew a bow—

There was some sort of light—

Link swiped his sword at a flying, glowing ball of energy— He hit it—

It flew away— Back— He swiped—

Missed—

Electricity consumed Link's body, blinding pain, uncontrollable screaming, he flew backwards off his feet—

I woke up, my whole body tingling and my blood racing through my veins just as I knew the energy was racing through Link's. It didn't hurt, but it was a force difficult to contain. It was like the blast I had felt the day I had received the Triforce of Wisdom. I gritted my teeth to keep from crying out as my body surged.

Nayru had told me I would have to help Link, to fight this battle with him. I hadn't realized until now what that meant.

* * *

All of my attempts to sleep that night were fruitless. When I closed my eyes, I received sharp visions of Link fighting, and every time Phantom Ganon struck a blow against him, I felt it. I would have sworn it went on for days, or at least hours.

Finally, a different sensation. It was a rushing of adrenaline not unlike that when Link was wounded, but it didn't make me feel sick and agonized. It felt satisfying. In a vision flash, I saw Link standing over Phantom Ganon; the former was sweating, gritting his teeth and clutching the Master Sword that he had driven with all of his strength into the chest of the latter, who was evaporating into dark smoke and flames. When the last of Phantom Ganon disappeared, I felt Link's relaxation, so intense that he staggered and nearly fell over. The vision cut out, this time, I knew, for good.

Looking at the moon in the sky, I barely had time to register in surprise that the battle had not taken as long as I had thought, then I dropped to sleep.

* * *

I felt I had just closed my eyes when a telepathic voice entered my mind and awakened me.

::Queen Zelda!::

I froze in fear; this unfamiliar voice knew my identity!

::Don't worry! I'm in the Sacred Realm. My telepathic messages are safe from Ganondorf.:: I thought I heard the voice laugh, a cute and childish giggle.

::You're Saria,:: I thought back, almost without noticing.

::Yep, I am. Link just saved me and awakened me. Is he the best or what?:: She laughed again. ::Anyway, I just thought I'd contact you to introduce myself. So, hi!::

She was contagiously friendly, yet there was a wisdom behind her youthful innocence. I liked her. ::Hi.::

She became serious. ::He's on his way to the next temple now. Said he'd heard it was on top of a mountain. Is that right?::

::Yes. I'm glad he was listening.::

::Oh, did you tell him that?:: She sounded surprised.

::Sort of. I can't really explain.::

::Okay. So I guess you probably have something important to do now?::

::Yes. Well, no. Well…::

Her laugh was like music. No wonder Link treasured her friendship so much.

::I'll let you go, then,:: she told me. ::Bye!::

She left my mind cheerfully, and I noticed I was smiling.

"What a sweet girl," I said to myself as I went to sleep again.

* * *

"Nightmares last night?"

Before even saying good morning, this was Impa's greeting to me. I looked up to see if she was giving me a motherly smile; she wasn't.

"Sort of," I said, giving her a meaningful look. "Just one all night. It seemed really _real_."

Impa caught my meaning. She sat down next to where I was washing my face and hands in the river near Gerudo Valley and said, "Let me help you wash your hair. No, I'm not going to make you cut it, Sheik, although I can't understand why a boy like you would want hair so long…"

I smirked, since she was the one who has decided all those years ago that I should keep it long, and lay on my stomach on the river's edge with my head hanging out over the water for Impa to begin soaking my hair. It weighed so much when wet that I couldn't support it with my neck.

"So tell me about your dream," Impa said conversationally.

Speaking to the delicate silver fish that flashed through the river, I explained, "I had a nightmare that Link—you know, that boy I had to meet and talk to yesterday—that he was fighting some horrible…monster."

Impa made a politely curious noise, as though she was simply being indulgent by listening to my babble, but I knew she really did want all the information I could give her.

"He got hurt a couple of times, I think, but he's okay—Ah! This water is freezing!" I yelped abruptly as a trickle of it rolled down the sensitive skin of my neck.

"Oh, shush," Impa scolded, lightly swatting the back of my head. "It's just because you haven't had water anywhere near you in far too long. Honestly, why boys feel they should be as dirty as possible…" She sighed. "But go on, if you're done complaining."

I made a face I knew she couldn't see, but I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd added, "…and don't you make that face at me."

"Anyway," I continued, "I think Link won."

"Well, that's good," Impa said. She was doing a very good impression of not caring. "What did you have to talk to him about, anyway, the second time you visited him?"

"Oh…just…some people who hadn't seen him in awhile and wanted to know he's okay. Same as before."

"You're just telling who he needs to meet, then, are you?"

"Pretty much."

Impa made an indistinct noise in reply. When she finished washing my hair, she wrung it out and patted me on the back. "All done."

"Thanks, Impa."

"So are you meeting this Link friend of yours again soon?"

"M-hm. I really should."

"Is he your age?"

The question surprised me, because she knew exactly how old Link was, until I remembered that, of course, Impa was pretending she had never met him.

"Yes, about."

"Oh, that's good. You don't have enough friends, Sheik."

I knew her comment was simply part of our cover, but it stung all the same, because it was true.

"There aren't many Sheikah left," I told her defensively. "And it's hard for me to get along with Hylians. Link's just different because he has connections with every race."

Each of these statements, independently, was true. The way I fit them together, however, was misleading. I'm sure Impa noticed; she nodded approvingly.

"I'll eat some quick breakfast, then go to meet Link," I said after a moment's pause. "What's to eat?"

"I'm not your slave. You'll help me cook if you want to eat. We're out of fish, and you were supposed to catch some more yesterday, but you were out running around all day—"

"Didn't you just say I should have friends?"

"When did I say you should neglect your responsibilities for your friends?"

She glared at me bossily; I glared at her sulkily. Then she and I both burst out laughing. She pushed me casually and laughed, "Oh, just go put your hair up and then go fishing. You'll be the death of me, Sheik, I swear."

I forced a smile, though her comment reminded me of my duty to the Sages.

_With any luck, I'll save your life instead_.

"Hurry, now," Impa nagged, crouching by the river to wash her own hair.

"Yes, mo—"

I stopped myself from joking, "Yes, mother." Somehow, I thought it wouldn't have been funny.

"Yes, Impa."


	11. Fire

Chapter Eleven—Fire

Since he was Darunia's sworn brother, I assumed Link would go to Goron City in his quest for the Fire Medallion. This, therefore, was my destination after breakfast. I didn't trust myself to teleport in the area of Death Mountain, because of its volatile atmosphere. The air was filled with divine magic that would interfere with my own Sheikah kind.

To my surprise, I arrived at Goron City and didn't find any signs that Link had yet made an appearance. The place was silent, shut down, empty. A small Goron, whom I had last seen on the day I saved him and his mother from the invading Gerudo forces, was the only living thing I could find. He was rolling madly around the middle level of the city. I panicked; where were his parents?

I dropped carefully down to his level, intending to stop the rolling Goron when he approached. However, Link the Goron sensed my presence before him, ground to a halt, and resumed his rolling in the opposite direction.

"Link!" I cried after him. "Link!"

He didn't stop. I sighed bitterly, guessing that he couldn't hear me, though I realized in retrospect that he was probably listening for the word "Kokiri." Why didn't I think of that at the time? Good question. Because nobody always has all the answers, that's why. Not even with the Triforce of Wisdom. Then life would just be too easy, and goddesses know that can't happen.

Maybe Darunia had left him to this. Maybe—a spark of hope popped within me—Darunia had willingly closed himself in his throne room! This hadn't been common practice for many years, otherwise I wouldn't have been concerned by the fact that the whole city was shut down, but desperate times do call for desperate measures. In light of recent events, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that he had resorted to behaviours common in the days before my father, the great King Churo, established peace among the races.

Jumping nimbly down two more levels, I approached the thick stone door of Darunia's chamber. Then I stopped short. I had intended to play the song of the Hylian Royal Family in order to prove my identity, but how would a Sheikah who boasted no connection to them know that song? I couldn't count on my reputation as a strangely omnipotent and almost ethereal figure for this. I would have to be more subtle.

"King Darunia!" I shouted. "This is Sheik, survivor of the Sheikah, the hero who saved the life of your son! I come with good news!"

There was no answer.

"I come in the name of the true queen, Zelda… and," I added on sudden inspiration, "in the name of the Hero of Time, Link!"

Abruptly, the stone door heavily ground upward to allow me entry. Darunia was approaching on the other side, staring aggressively at me.

"Darunia, I—"

"The Hero of Time?" the Goron king interrupted me. "Did you say 'the Hero of Time, Link'?" There was a note of something almost like hysteria in his voice.

"Yes, I did."

"Are you talking about my sworn brother, the boy from the forest?"

"I am."

Darunia let out his breath in a long, growl-like sound. "So that's where the forest boy has been. Trapped in time, preparing for his task." He let out a sharp laugh, more a sound of bitter victory than of mirth. "The goddesses chose Their Hero well."

I couldn't help smiling. "Yes. The child is now a man, and he will make Ganondorf pay."

"I'm glad to hear it. Is that the news you've brought?"

"There is more, and all of it just as good."

"Ah… I wish I could give you some back. Come in," he stepped out of the doorway to let me pass, "and we'll talk."

I nodded courteously and entered Darunia's chamber. It was small and sparsely decorated, with nothing but a plain rug on the dirt floor and two simple wooden tables against one wall, but Darunia himself sat in a large, square throne carved with the intimidating designs native to Goron culture. Seeing no other seats, I stood.

"So," Darunia began, "I'm curious to hear what news you have from the Hero of Time and of the Gorons, Brother Link."

"He has been released from the seal of time," I said. "He is again in Hyrule, fulfilling his destiny. The goddesses have sent him to awaken all of the Six Sages, whose power, combined with his own and that of the Master Sword he wields—"

Darunia laughed. He was taking strange pleasure, it seemed to me, in the idea that Link was now a hero. "The little boy carries a big stick! Ganondorf will never expect defeat at the hands of someone so young…but he'll have to." He chuckled deeply. "Oh, yes."

"Indeed. All this combined power will be enough to defeat the King of Evil."

"And how many Sages has Link awakened?"

"Two," I replied, ignoring the fact that technically he hadn't awakened Rauru. "I haven't spoken to him since he awakened the Sage of Forest, but I have reliable cause to believe that he will come here in search of the third Sage."

"Excellent!" boomed Darunia, clapping his hands together with enthusiasm. "I don't know that he'll find any Sages here, but I do know that the Gorons desperately need his help. Our situation has grown very grave since you were last here."

This reaction was a bit of a surprise, though I didn't let on to this effect. There was a vicious light in his eyes; I wasn't sure I wanted to know what he was thinking, but he didn't wait for me to request information before volunteering it.

"I am descended of one of the great heroes of the Goron race, who became a hero when he save our people from a horrific monster, a dragon called Volvagia.

"Ganondorf knows that Volvagia is our weakness. He brought the dragon back, under his control, and he kidnapped every one of us he could find. I didn't know why at first, because I didn't know that Volvagia once again posed a threat to us all. Only recently, when I found that… Link's mother had disappeared… only then did I learn the truth." Seeing the look of horror on my face, he added solemnly, "Yes. She has been kidnapped as well. They left Link, because Ganondorf doesn't fear children, and particularly not boys. It's a part of his culture as a Gerudo, and it will also be his failing. But as I was saying…

"I found a note when I found that the forces of Ganondorf had been here again. It explained that the 'King of Hyrule,' as he…_delusionally_ calls himself, is displeased with the insolence 'his people' are showing. He dealt with the Zoras, but he plans to make the Gorons an example. As a show of power, he will feed them to the demon all believed vanquished forever."

Darunia paused, glaring harshly at nothing. He drew a deep breath and continued angrily.

"It is painfully obvious to me that I must eliminate Volvagia, as my forefather did. But I will need the help of my sworn brother. Actually, I was beginning to fear that he had fallen in some noble battle against the forces of evil. You can understand, then, why your news is a great relief and joy!" He let out that sharp, vindictive laugh again.

I didn't really understand, truthfully, but I smiled anyway. I was trying to think of a way to tactfully explain that, as important as it was to save the Goron race from extinction, Link didn't have time to spare for missions other than the one assigned by the goddesses._ Maybe Darunia would care about Sages if he knew he was one…_

"So," Darunia continued, rising to his feet. "I must be on my way. The dragon and my people are in the Fire Temple in Death Mountain Crater. Will you please send him there when he arrived? I need to go now, to get a head start on finding and fighting Volvagia."

I stopped my protest on my lips as something clicked into place—the Sage of Fire unwittingly leading the Hero of Time to the Fire Temple, knowing the dangers it held? This was no side mission; this was Link's quest, only Darunia didn't know it. I smiled innocently. I should have known the goddesses would have everything work out.

"Of course. But I'm sure he'll figure it out on his own."

Darunia was half listening. "My son will meet his namesake, I'm sure, but under no circumstances is the Hero of Time to lead the Goron prince into the Fire Temple. Please tell Link that."

"I don't think Link would—"

"And tell him also that I'll handle Volvagia. I know the dragon's weakness. All Link has to do is free my people from their imprisonment. He doesn't have to be a hero."

I didn't answer, partly because I knew Darunia was lost in thought and not listening to me, and partly because I was wondering if I had really just heard Darunia say that Link shouldn't "be a hero."

"I'm going," Darunia said bluntly, marching grandly from the room.

"Yes," I said absently.

_He doesn't have to be a hero? But he is a hero, whether you want him to be or not_.

To my surprise, Darunia returned just as I thought this.

"Uh, what…?" I asked uncertainly.

"I've sealed the door to my chamber," he explained. "My son can open it when Link arrives. Come with me. We'll leave via the secret exit."

Leaning heavily on his throne, Darunia gave a grunt and pushed. It ground across the floor, revealing behind it a passageway that glowed red. I gaped, but before I could comment, Darunia was passing through it and calling, "Come on, I have to close it behind us!"

I hurriedly followed him.

"This will take us into the heart of Death Mountain Crater," he explained as we walked through the dull, red lit passage. Momentarily, we emerged in the stifling heat of the volcano. I felt as though I couldn't breathe, and quickly risked performing Hylian magic on myself to form an insulating barrier against the heat, similar to the one I used to survive in Kokiri Forest. Maybe Ganondorf would be able to sense me using it, but it was either that or die.

"Will you wait here for Link, to give him my instructions?" Darunia asked me; he hadn't noticed that the environment was dangerous.

"Sure… and you'll be in the Fire Temple?"

He nodded briskly. "Goodbye… I hope I'll see you again, Sheik. You are a truly noble hero, worthy to be the friend of Link himself."

It was high praise from this man. "Thank you," I said quietly, as he walked away.

_You have no idea_.

* * *

I had a suspicion that Link would use Darunia's secret entrance to get into the crater, so I hid atop an ash cone near it. I was grateful for the fabric wrapped around my face, which kept the soot out of my mouth, and the spell I had cast, which kept me alive, but I doubted Link would have either of these things. I hoped I wouldn't have to resort to putting a spell on him, too; it would give away my cover.

I hadn't been waiting long when I heard an unnaturally high-pitched female voice, coming from the direction of Darunia's secret passage, saying, "Oh, it's so hot in here! Are you sure—"

"Of course I'm sure, Navi," replied a familiar male voice. "I feel fine."

"You know that if you start to get too hot—"

"I should play the Minuet of Forest and get out fast. I know. Now stop nagging."

"I just want you to be careful."

"Because the Great Deku Tree assigned you to protect me. Well, if you wanna protect me, maybe you shouldn't attract so much attention, hm?"

"Right. Sorry."

Link emerged from the tunnel into the stifling heat of the crater, and I noticed two things right away. First of all, while he was wearing his usual tunic and hat, they were now red instead of green; I blinked and looked again, trying to make see if it was just a trick of the light, but no, he had definitely changed his outfit. Second, the only thing in the whole place that wasn't red was following him; it was a fluttering blue sparkle, a fairy. I remembered she had been there when I had met Link as a child, and presumably she had never gone away. Just as I was thinking how odd it was that I had completely forgotten her, and never heard her having a conversation with Link, I remembered that she had been there when he first awakened, in the Temple of Time.

"Here," he was saying now, taking off his red hat. His head looking strangely flat without it. "Hide, all right? Until I need you."

Navi obeyed, flying into the hat, which Link replaced on his head comfortably.

I watched him walk below my hiding place. He shot himself across a broken wooden bridge using the same hookshot tool I had seen him use to down the monsters in the Sacred Forest Meadow, making his way towards a stone platform with an image on it, one of the six images surrounding the Pedestal of Time. Similar platforms existed in the Sacred Forest Meadow and the Temple of Time, and I was sure Link recognized this one for what it was. Before he reached it, I dropped behind him onto the wooden bridge. He turned to face me casually, but with his eyebrows raised.

"Hey, Sheik. What a surprise. I never would have expected to run into you here of all places. What's new? Life going good?"

I almost laughed at his deadpan irony; if he could speak so casually about his task, it obviously wasn't presenting much of an intimidating challenge, and that was something to be pleased about. However, I still had to maintain my distantly all-knowing persona. After all, even if this wasn't hard, he still had to take it seriously.

"Death Mountain is a place that reflects the state of the world," I began.

Link looked around and grimaced. "Well, that answers my question. Not doing to well, is it?"

I continued. "It is the centre of war and peace, life and death, emotion and fortune. It is the heart of the kingdom. This song is dedicated to the power and passion of the heart."

I took out my small harp and played a brief, up beat, low song that reminded me of Goron drums and the pounding of a heartbeat. Link copied it on the Ocarina of Time, and I could see that he really was focused and driven, even if he still had a sense of humour.

When he had finished play and tucked away his Ocarina, Link asked, "Sheik… Can I go back now? To the past? I mean, just to visit. There's a few things I didn't finish… and…" His voice trailed off, but I knew what he meant; he missed his home. This wasn't it anymore. I felt the same way.

I didn't answer him. I knew he would try now to return, which meant I had to beat him to the Temple of Time. I leapt up, and at the top of my jump I teleported myself to the top of the ash cone, where he couldn't see me. I heard him mutter under his breath, "The only two things he can't do are stay put and give a straight answer."

I smirked. _Well, I am a Sheikah_.

Lightly as a gymnast, a jumped and climbed along high rock ledges over Link's head until I reached the top of the crater, then climbed out and slid on my feet down its side, sending dirt, dust and small rocks flying around me. I hit the ground running, sprinting down the mountain. I knew I had a head start, and I was sure that I was faster than Link, if nothing else because I wasn't weighed down by as much equipment as he was, so I was confident when I reached the foot of Death Mountain that I would beat him to the Temple of Time.

I crossed Kakariko on the rooftops, not wanting to be seen and roped into some hero's task, and when I looked back, I saw Link reaching the bottom of the mountain at a run. I had to keep hurrying.

As I left the village, I was already calling for Umikae, who came running and skidded to a halt before me. Flinging myself onto his back, I gave him directions in Sheikah—"Northwest, Hyrule Castle Town, quickly!"—and he was off like a shot.

I clung to his mane and back as though my life depended on it, lying flat to urge him on, dismounted before he had come to a complete stop, teleported across the market place so I wouldn't have to deal with Redeads, and burst into the Temple of Time like a hurricane. I had a stitch in my side and I was out of breath, but I had made it here first and I was ready to teach him the next warp song. Too bad these tunes only worked on the Ocarina of Time, because I could get good use out of them with all the chasing him around I had to do.

"I hope you appreciate how much work I go through for you," I muttered, trying to get my breath back and compose myself into the mystic I was supposed to be. "It's no small feat to be omnipresent."

Sure enough, not ten minutes later, Link arrived. He looked only mildly surprised that I had beaten him, but he also looked much less worn out. Before he could comment, I began.

"Your adulthood and childhood blur together. Your past and future are both your present. You travel the currents of time in both directions. This place is where your unique adventures begin and end. There will come a time when you will need to come here quickly. When you wish to return to this place, play the Prelude of Light."

On my harp, I played a light, gentle song quite different from the Bolero of Fire I had taught him only moments ago. This one sounded like stars twinkling, like sunlight reflected one water, like a rainbow tracing across the sky. Of all the songs I was to teach Link, this was one of my personal favourites. I reminded me of the Minuet of Forest in its playful spirit.

Link followed my lead carefully, then lowered his Ocarina. I couldn't help wondering what probing question he would ask next, and I how I would have to dodge it. I waited, watching him stare at the floor as his thoughts swirled.

Finally, he looked up, opened his mouth, paused, and said, "Thank you."

He turned and left, his boots quieter than before. Justice had learned the value of treading lightly.

* * *

It was the next morning, just as I was waking up, that a vision made me clasp my hands over my face and let out a cry of surprise. I had been sitting up; I fell flat onto my back.

As before, it was all coming to me in pieces. Unlike the last one, which had cut sharply from scene to scene as though I was opening and closing my eyes, this one faded in and out, as though someone was dimming and illuminating the scene. I was sweating all over, and my muscles were seizing spasmodically of their own accord. I gasped for breath raggedly, unevenly.

…Link stood on a stone platform, surrounded by lava… something was moving…

…the flaming head of a dragon reared up…

…Link held a massive hammer in both hands…

…rocks were falling from the ceiling… Volvagia was circling…

…Link slashed the dragon's head as it lay limp…

…now it was breathing fire overhead…

…Link dodged…ran…swung the hammer…

…flames…

…the Master Sword flashed…

…cries of pain…

…rocks…

…hammer… sword…

…over and over again…random chaos and violence…

…At last, Volvagia screamed in agony…tossed its head, fell in a gracefully shuddering wave.

Link let out his breath in a sigh and relaxed as he had done after fighting Phantom Ganon, so totally that he nearly fell over. I, too, relaxed, the blood pounding in my head, and the vision faded away for good.

When I could focus my eyes on the world normally again, I realized that Impa was standing over me. She was smiling, and there was relief in her eyes.

"Nightmares again," I explained, smiling back shakily.

"So I see." She didn't comment on the strangeness of having nightmares in the morning. "At least they were shorter this time."

"Yeah…"

She helped me to my feet, seeing that I was fatigued.

"So," she said in a casual tone. "You'll be going out today, I suppose?"

"I have to meet Link again."

Nodding slowly, Impa told me, "I thought as much. I'll see you, then."

I watched her walk away, to finish putting up the camp she had begun the night before, before I even replied to her.

_Nothing will separate us. I promise_.


	12. Ice

Chapter Twelve—Ice

Water, according to my mental checklist of Temples, was next for Link to conquer. The Water Temple was at the bottom of Lake Hylia, and that fact presented something of a problem; Link wouldn't be able to reach it. As strong a swimmer as I knew he was, since the goddesses surely had granted him that gift, he still wouldn't have the lung capacity to swim to the bottom of the lake and make his way through a structure that was mostly underwater. Of course, the fact that the lake was half empty might help, but it was still a lot of water for any land-dwelling person to deal with. So I decided that the person to consult on the issue would be a non-land-dwelling one, one who cared about the state of Hyrule and about making sure Link could do what he needed to do without getting hurt…

Figuring out who fit that description was not much of a stretch of the imagination.

"Well, how did _you_ get here?" she asked me irritably when I found her.

Ruto was hiding out in the Temple, as she had been since Zora's Domain froze over. She perched on the edge of the central tower inside the Temple, absently splashing with one foot in the water that came up to the ledge. I stood next to her and frowned.

"I have magical powers native to the Sheikah culture, and I'm not encumbered by weaponry. Neither of these facts will work in Link's favour. If you have any ideas, I would be delighted to hear them. If you have only snide comments and—"

"All right, calm down," she sighed. "I just get grumpy when I'm nervous. Sorry. But, getting to the point, doesn't Link have some magic? I'm sure he's visited the Great Fairy Fountain in Zora's Fountain, behind Lord Jabu-Jabu, and there's that little guardian fairy of his always tailing along. She's an annoying and bossy little thing, though… Anyway, maybe Link knows the same spells as you."

"Maybe," I replied, feeling quite sure that such a thing was all but impossible. "But what if he doesn't? I need a back up plan that can't fail."

Ruto sighed. "Come on, I'm getting dried out. I can't think when I'm all hot."

She slipped off her ledge and into the water, swimming to the next ledge down, which was underwater, and seating herself comfortably on it. I dived in after her and treaded water between the floor I had just been standing on and the floor Ruto was now sitting on. She didn't notice my situation.

"So he needs to breathe underwater, huh?" she was musing vaguely. "Well, we make a tunic for that. Dad has one, and I'm sure he'll give it to Link… After all," she giggled, "Link _is_ going to be Dad's son-in-law soon."

This comment struck me as even less likely than her theory that he would know as much magic as I did, but I chose to ignore it.

"Great," I said. "About the tunic, I mean."

"Although," Ruto added thoughtfully, "Dad's all frozen, so Link will have to save him." She frowned, but brightened momentarily. "Oh, well. He might as well help us out, right?"

"Of course," I agreed. She missed the sarcasm, and I resisted the urge to add, "It's not like he's busy or has something better to do with his time." Besides, I was fairly certain that King Zora was safe; I hadn't heard that anything had happened to him, and I heard about everything that happened to everyone in Hyrule.

"Anything else?"

"Now that you mention it, one more thing…"

As we held this conversation, I was struggling to keep myself down. I kept banging my head against the floor above me as the water kept bobbing me up to it.

"Is there anything Link could use to keep his feet on the ground?" I asked.

"His feet on the—? Oh!" Ruto laughed, noticing me. "Yes, you land people aren't so good at floating and sinking at will, are you? Let me see… something heavy…"

She considered a moment, her fins waving idly.

"Well…" she finally said slowly, "I have one idea. There's a place in Zora's Fountain that's always been frozen. We call it the Ice Cavern. It's in a crack in the northern wall, you can't miss it. Do you know where I mean?"

Having never been to Zora's Fountain, I didn't. But I just said, "Yeah, sure."

"Well, when we go in there, we need special equipment to keep from slipping all over the ice. Or getting stuck to it." She shuddered. "Our skin's not made for traction on those types of surfaces. So we designed these special shoes, the Iron Boots. They weigh a ton, so I bet Link would sink like a rock if he wore them."

"Those sound good. Where are they?"

Ruto sighed. "Weren't you listening? In the Ice Cavern! There's all sorts of useful stuff in there. And I'm sure you won't need to motivate Link to go exploring it. He's just naturally curious like that. That's how we met, after all." She smiled affectionately, but I couldn't help thinking that if that were true, he was likely to never want to go exploring again.

"Right… Okay, thanks. I'll get going, then."

Relieved to finally abandon my struggle against buoyancy, I quickly swam away before Ruto could say more. I was grateful to escape that room and be able to surface, and to breathe without the aid of magic. It was also nice to be able to get away from Ruto, whose mere presence grated on my nerves. She was one of the few people who made me happy that I would someday have the power to shut up anyone who bugged me. I harboured many a vindictive thought about her.

_Maybe when she finds out I'm her queen, she'll be a little less annoying_.

I had to hurry to guide Link to the Ice Cavern. I took a deep breath and dove, swooping through the underwater entrance to the Temple and back up to the surface of the shallow lake. It was an unfortunately long ride from here to Zora's Domain with the portal between them frozen; all I could do was hope Link hadn't figured out that it was his next destination.

* * *

No such luck.

It started out according to plan. All looked well when I arrived at Zora's River. I didn't see Epona waiting nearby, and I didn't encounter Link himself, either, as I sprinted the winding, maze-like river, dodging the projectiles of Oktoroks, and leapt straight through the waterfall marking the entrance to Zora's Domain. Bursting through the water felt like running straight into a wall and somehow breaking it rather than being broken by it, and I led with my arms to keep that impact from fully striking me in the face. Shaking wet hair out of my eyes, I scanned the grotto. No Link. I was off and running again.

Zora's Fountain was, I knew, the home of the Zora deity, Lord Jabu-Jabu. Therefore, only those with the permission of King Zora could access it, and whatever Ruto might be wrong about, I was sure she would be right about her father's willingness to help Link without question. Would he be so kind to me? Surely. Surely he would.

When I reached King's Zora's throne, I ground to a halt and stared up in horror.

"Damn it," I said bluntly.

My hopes shattered; of course Ganondorf had imprisoned King Zora— Part of me was sure he had done it just to bother me. Ruto's father was encased in a large red crystal, but it looked different from the one in my vision that had been Saria's prison. I climbed up to King Zora's side, noticing as I did that he also seemed unable to move within his captivity. I hesitantly touched the crystal… which wasn't crystal. It was ice. Red ice, but definitely ice.

"Strange…" I murmured. Even stranger, it didn't seem affected by my body heat. Leaning in close, I breathed on it, but it didn't melt at all.

It wasn't all bad, though, since he wasn't blocking the way to Zora's Fountain, so I could still do what I needed, to get Link the equipment that he—

I felt my heart plummet when I remembered that King Zora had the tunic Link needed to breathe underwater.

Then my heart leapt in fear when I realized that I was wasting valuable time. Wherever Link was, he was making progress, and I wasn't. Having not run into him yet, I was fairly confident that he was quite a ways behind me, but I couldn't be sure.

"Bye," I whispered to King Zora, though I doubted he could hear me. I dashed past him.

To my surprise, Zora's Fountain wasn't frozen solid. It was, however, changed for the worse. Icebergs floated quietly over its gently rippling surface, and Oktoroks swam just beneath. The most noticeable and horrific change, however, was the complete absence of Lord Jabu-Jabu himself. A stone platform, which was clearly intended as a place for people to stand and face him, remained, but there was only ice and water beyond it. I wondered, with a flutter of concern, if Lord Jabu-Jabu had met the same fate as the Kokiri's Great Deku Tree.

Even as I thought this, I spotted what could only be the Ice Cavern. Ruto was right in saying you couldn't miss it; the wall opposite me had a large hole in it, gaping like a mouth, that looked like a natural crack in the stone resulting from the shifts of time. I also thought Ruto was probably right in saying that Link would explore it even if no one told him to; the wide, black space peaked even my curiosity… and I had learned that curiosity doesn't always pay. The fact that making it up there appeared challenging only added to the allure, and it was just as taxing as it looked.

I scrambled over the small icebergs awkwardly, because they tilted under my weight and offered no grip for my hands or feet. Adding to this complication was the fact that I had to jump from one to the next, taking off from as high a crouch as I dared and landing splayed on the hard, cold surface.

Then there were those Oktoroks that I was getting sick of putting up with; I would have taken out a few with throwing stars, if I'd had a free hand, just to vent some frustration.

From the last iceberg, it was a matter of standing up and jumping to grab the edge of the gaping hole.

Wouldn't it be funny, I thought, if I went through all this trouble and it wasn't the right cavern?

_Well…no,_ I answered myself as I hauled my body up over the edge, another massively physical task.

Luckily, I could tell this had to be the right place. It was a cavern, and it was covered in ice. Ice Cavern. However, I still felt myself losing hope as I made my way through it. Each room showed signs of having been visited already: doors were unlocked, treasure chests were opened, monsters carved of ice were hacked to bits, and in one patch of snow, I found a set of footprints that only a pair of Kokiri boots could have made. I sighed. Maybe I could catch him on the way out, at least.

When I arrived at one door, though, I heard noises on the other side… an animal was growling, howling, something or someone was running around… it sounded like a fight.

Just to be sure, I composed myself and performed the skill I had shown Impa after my first visit with Link. With undetectable intercorporeal sensory reception, I accessed Link's vision.

Sure enough, I saw a room with a floor of snow and walls that were black but covered in reflections like stars. His focus was on a fight he was engaged in against a large, white Wolfos. The sounds I could hear through the door matched what I could see through Link's eyes as he and the wolf battled ferociously. It didn't take long before I heard a high-pitched growl of agony and saw the Master Sword slice across the throat of the beast. The sword repelled the blood, which dripped onto the snow and stained it, along with the wolf's own fur, a vibrant red.

Apparently cued by the wolf's death, a large treasure chest materialized before Link out of nowhere. This didn't surprise him; he approached it and lifted its heavy wooden lid. Inside was a pair of boots more or less identical to the ones he was already wearing, except that they had metal casings over the feet. Link looked them over carefully, and I could tell he was wondering what use metal shoes were supposed to be to him.

Navi fluttered around his head, and he looked at her; she was speaking, though I couldn't make out her words through the door, and he answered, his voice equally muted. I thought I heard something about "sinking to the bottom."

I let my concentration fall, slipping back into my own mind, and opened the door to subtly answer Link's questions. He jumped when he heard the someone entering, and whirled around with one hand on his sword hilt and the other poised to grab his shield. When he recognized me, he dropped both arms back down to his sides.

"Oh, hey," he said with a smile and a wave. "I was wondering if you were going to show up. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be here. I mean, these boots don't make a lot of sense to me." He nonchalantly kicked at the Iron Boots, which he had dropped when he prepared himself to fight me.

Not directly addressing his words, I said, "You've noticed the changes in Zora's Domain, I'm sure."

Link's expression became darker and more serious. "Yeah, I did. What happened? I know you never tell me anything I ask you, but…"

"Ganondorf sent this ice to trap the Zoras, to stop them from rebelling against his control."

Link swore viciously. "Figures. I hoped it wasn't him… but you'd think I'd know better than that by now. They're all trapped, then?"

"I managed to save one just in time. The Princess Ruto."

I saw Link's expression of disgust before he could suppress it. "Oh," he said, trying and failing to sound neutral and casual, "my fiancée. That's…really great."

Hearing Link refer to his engagement to Ruto was very different from hearing the bride herself refer to it. When she spoke, it sounded like an unrealistic fantasy of hers. When he did, it seemed real, in the same way a fatal disease is. Clearly, he would have taken the disease if he'd had a choice. I hid my smile under my face coverings.

"Also," I went on, ignoring his comments, "King Zora is frozen in a crystal of red ice. I'm sure you saw."

"No problem," Link said, taking me slightly aback. From somewhere in his tunic, he pulled out a bottle containing what looked like blue fire. I had seen sconces of this fire burning at intervals throughout the Ice Cavern, and observed that they gave off no heat, but I couldn't imagine why it would occur to Link to bottle some of it. He must have thought I understood, though, because he spun the bottle in his hand with a proud smile before replacing it in his tunic without further explanation. Since asking about it would have taken away from my image of omniscience, I merely nodded.

"To travel to the next temple, play the Serenade of Water," I instructed him, taking out my harp. We played the song together; it was slow, simple and echoing, like raindrops onto a calm pool in spring. When we lowered our instruments, I said, "Ruto is waiting for you there."

"I look forward to seeing her," he said, with a smile so false it looked like a painful grimace.

Tactfully, I told him, "Don't worry. I don't foresee a marriage between you and someone of a different…species." _I hope_.

He laughed. "You read my mind. Well, see you."

I had no doubt that there was more he wanted to know, but of course he knew better than to ask by now. I simply walked away as he put on his new boots and trudged over to a hole in the ice behind the empty treasure chest. He took a deep breath and jumped into the water.


	13. Haunted

Chapter Thirteen—Haunted

Nayru had, of course, told me where the temple after Water was, but getting there would be a challenge all my skills of stealth and tracking, and would be even harder for Link. It lay on the far side of a desert which was nearly impassable. Yet even before the desert was more impassable terrain—a fortress of female thieves more skilled in combat than anyone in Hyrule. The Gerudo.

As much as I didn't want to risk using more Hylian magic, I concluded that I would have to in order to pass through Gerudo territory. While I could make myself invisible, it would be far more dangerous than disguising myself: Ganondorf would have no problem tracking me by a spell of such a duration, and besides that, what if I needed to talk to someone? So, just as I had so long ago changed my eye and skin colour to be that of Sheik, I now used my powers of magical metamorphosis to give myself a ponytail of red hair, the darkened skin of a Gerudo, short ears and a long nose, and a purple gem inset in my forehead. However, this wasn't adequate cover to get me into their hideout; I needed the clothes, but I didn't know the details of them well enough to try conjuring some up. I would have to steal some.

Under a spell of invisibility—I really didn't want to use one, but I also really had no choice—I snuck up to their gate, on the far side of a narrow wooden bridge over a dizzyingly high canyon. A single guard was there, holding a spear slung over her shoulder. Moving quickly, I knocked her unconscious with a swift, well-aimed blow to the top of the head. I dragged her away quickly, before the spell could wear off. When we were out of sight of the gate, hidden behind some large rocks, I removed the spell from myself and breathed freely.

I initially felt a spasm of guilt about stealing the woman's clothes, but when I reminded myself whom she answered to and what crimes she had committed against me, my family and Hyrule itself, my conscious was magically clear.

Ganondorf hadn't found me by my magic; that was something to be grateful for. I was also grateful for getting to dress as a female for the first time in far too many years. For a moment before I put my plan into action, I just enjoyed the feeling of being able to look like what I truly was. Or at least, something closer to it.

I hoped I looked confident as a strode up to the main gate, where the two guards who had come, apparently, to relieve the one I had taken care of were instead investigating her disappearance. I also hoped that the Triforce of Wisdom would give me knowledge of the Gerudo language, as it had done with the Sheikah, because I was going for it.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked. To my relief, the words that came out were a foreign language.

"Oh… Ellet left her post early. Not our problem though, it's hers. Ganon'll kill her."

The guard who had spoken shook her head. The other sighed. I forced myself to give a short laugh.

"Can you believe her? Well, like you said, her problem," I said, walking past and holding my breath. They didn't stop me, and I hoped it wasn't audible when I exhaled the tension. Now all that was left was the hope that my vague lie, which even I knew was far-fetched, would pass inspection. I knew the importance of confidence in lying; make people believe you're their superior, that you know more about what you're talking about than they do, and they'll believe anything.

It was hard to miss the vast gate which vaulted up into the sky to separate the civilized Gerudo Fortress from the untamed Haunted Wasteland. It, like the gate I had already come through, was guarded, but not heavily; the woman who stood there evidently served more to discourage overly adventurous young Gerudo girls than to keep out intruders or any other serious purpose. I approached her boldly, though my heart was hammering in my chest.

"I need to get past," I said.

"Sorry," she said simply, shaking her head.

Trying to look annoyed at her insolence, I informed her, "I'm on Ganondorf's orders. Important business at the Desert Colossus."

Frowning, the woman observed, "You don't look familiar to me."

"Well, no," I acknowledged, now putting on an expression of surprise as though I thought she was a bit slow, "because I've been part of Ganondorf's personal force living in his castle for…five or more years now. Since I was young."

"You're still young," she observed.

I shrugged. "Most of the force is. Now, you gonna let me through, or what?"

"What is this important business?" she asked sceptically.

Narrowing my eyes, I demanded, "Do you really think I'm gonna tell you that? All you need to know is that it's secret enough that he sent a member of his personal force here to deal with it, so obviously he doesn't want anyone else in on it! All the information on important government issues stays completely within the personal force. Not even other ranking officers hear about it. In times like these… Look, if I say any more, I'll be saying too much. You can never tell who's a spy for Nabooru," I added, lowering my voice conspiratorially.

Looking vaguely confused, the woman nodded. She let out a shrill whistle, which must have been the signal to the woman in the watch tower above to lower the gate. As it rumbled down, sinking into the sand, the guard asked me, "Do you know how to cross? I mean, if you've been living at the castle…"

She was trying to be nice now. See? It's all in the confidence.

"You're right, I don't know," I agreed.

"Well, just follow the flags for the first bit, but watch out for the quicksand. There's a whole river of it at one point that you might have trouble crossing. Anyway, after the flags you'll find this stumpy little building. Then you have to follow…"

She paused here to smile indulgently, then continued.

"They say it's a ghost you have to follow. A spirit guide or something. I don't know if I believe that, but I guess you'll find out when you get there, huh?"

I nodded. "Thanks."

With her warnings ringing in my ears as I entered the Haunted Wasteland, I wasn't sure if the easy part or the hard part was behind me.

* * *

At first, it seemed my nerves were unfounded. Following the flags was easy enough, and I soon arrived at a box that stood between two of the flags. I was glad to stand on the box, since wading through the sand had not proven as easy task thus far, in order to look ahead. What I saw showed me that the Haunted Wasteland wasn't as simple as I had been starting to think. Wishful thinking, I guess.

Before me stretched an expanse of quicksand flowing so quickly that I understood why the guard had used the term "river" to describe it. I could see across it to a box flanked by flags, like the one I was standing on, but it was definitely much too far to jump. The river reached out to my left and right as far as the eye could see, which admittedly wasn't very far, given the constant state of sandstorm that the desert was in, but I didn't like to think where I would end up if it caught me in its current. I had only one chance to cross it; I would have to plan my moves well, and I would have to have good aim.

After careful deliberation, I decided that the best course of action would be to jump for it and use my hookchain to grab onto one of the flags on the other side. From there I could, with any luck, swing across gracefully and land lightly on safer and more solid, if not totally so, ground. I braced myself, wrapping the hookchain around my wrist so that it wouldn't slip from my hand, fixed my stance for an explosive and effective burst of energy, and—went for it…

The feeling of suddenly being in the air was terrifying, so much so that I nearly forgot to fling out my hookchain. Gravity released its hold on me briefly, I hung in the air for a moment of time too short to measure but infinitely long while I was experiencing it. Then I was falling, slowly, gaining speed— I couldn't help letting out a desperate cry of effort as I whipped my hookchain across the expanse, praying it would find solid grip.

I saw it fly out. It lashed itself to one of the flags. But I was still falling, not swinging gracefully as I had imagined… though, really, I thought bitterly, how had I expected that to work? The physics didn't make much sense.

_It doesn't matter. I have a lifeline_.

I started trying to pull myself along that lifeline before I hit the river. By the time I had landed, floundering, I was already clawing my way out of it, pushing against whatever semblance of ground I could find, entangling my hands and fingers in the chain that was holding my onto life, and just fighting against the forces of death that dragged me down.

"No… I won't go down… I won't go down… I'm fighting… I won't…give up… No…"

I'm not sure how much I was actually saying, growling out from between tightly gritted teeth, and how much I was just thinking, pounding across my own brain like a mantra.

I do know that when I finally pulled myself up out of the current and lay down, weak and limp, on the box that was my goal, I felt as close to myself as I have ever felt in my life. Somehow, right then, I knew exactly who and what I was. I felt my essence as a living thing tingling through every part of my body.

Despite everything, I had a soul.

* * *

More flags were beyond that. They were still easy to follow, though I felt oddly detached from the physical after my experience at the river. I thought no time or distance had passed behind me or lay in front of me, for there would never be a change, but then suddenly a low building appeared. I stopped and stared; was I imagining things? Then I remembered that the guard had told me there was a building. Snapping out of my reverie, I ran up to it.

The howling winds were less fierce here, in the slight shelter of the building, which was made of brick the same colour as the sand, so that it looked like the desert had carved itself into this shape. I entered its low doorway and blinked in the strange clarity of a place where sand wasn't trying to blind me. There was nothing inside the single circular room, except two unlit torches on a platform, and a few feebly burning sconces on the wall.

"Hello?" I asked, remembering that there was supposed to be something or someone I would follow. My voice echoed slightly in here; out in the desert, the endlessness of the world had swallowed it. Either way, I received no answer.

I hesitated before leaving the building, because I didn't want to miss my guide or give up the safety of the place. Once outside, however, I noticed that a ramp spiralled around the building, leading up to its roof. I walked up, squinting against the continually blasting sand and bracing myself against the whipping winds, and found on the roof a square carved stone that reminded my unpleasantly of a grave. I managed to make out an inscription informing me of the spirit guide I could follow, provided I had eyes that could see the truth. I looked around, but saw only swirling sand. Did that mean I couldn't see the truth?

"Hello?" I called again, thinking that maybe this guide was just hiding. I thought I heard a sinister, cackling laughter in reply, close enough to make my skin crawl, but I still saw nothing.

"Are you the spirit guide?" I called out loudly. Looking around desperately, I tried to get my bearings. I knew I wanted to go west, but I had only a vague idea of which way west was. There was no visible sun to follow, and if I guessed my direction wrong, I could easily end up miles from where I wanted to be… lost in this boundless desert…

Irritation struck me. I was irritated to cover my fear.

Then, as softly as that laughter that I might have imagined, I felt something light and cold slip past my arm.

"Hey! What am I supposed to follow?" I shouted out into the emptiness.

The desert was howling malevolently at me. I gave an annoyed grunt.

"Fine," I snarled at nothing. "I'll figure it out on my own, and if I die, it's your fault."

Taking a deep breath to prepare myself for doing what I knew had to easily be the stupidest thing I had ever done in my life, I said a quick prayer.

_Please, goddesses, guide me…_

Even as I thought it, it was answered. A shimmered cloud of light formed before my eyes. I thought I was hallucinating, until I realized that it was blowing along unaffected by the tempestuous winds that churned up the sand. It had to be divine.

I jumped down from the roof on which I stood, slipping in the soft drifts of sand I fell into, and began to run after it—or rather, wade quickly through a desert that was trying with infinite hands to pull me under.

The cloud led me along a fairly straight path and didn't go too far ahead of me, but that didn't make the trek easy. Soon some enemies appeared, green blob-like monsters that emerged from the ground and spun their way towards me. For the most part, I tried to dodge them, but the sand provided an indefinite supply. By the time I could make out two flags nearby, my legs were cut up and bruised from constant attacks. However, the flags renewed my energy; my goal was in sight. With a hoarse cheer, I found the strength somewhere to drag myself to it.

No sooner had I broken through the edge of the last sand storm than my joy evaporated. The journey had gone too smoothly. It had taken much less time than I had anticipated. That meant that I would have to wait here for Link for who knew how long. It could be days. And this place was clearly not made for long-time habitation. There wasn't another person in sight, only a few evil-looking black birds and more of those accursed green blobs. There were a few large rocks, carved into arches and formations by centuries of wind, some of them so large they were like walls in the middle of the desert that separated this place from… nothing, most likely. The only intentionally built structure was a massive statue of a woman sitting cross-legged with her hands palm up on her knees, and a huge snake carved of stone wrapped around her head like a bizarre turban. This was the Spirit Temple Link would have to battle through to awaken Nabooru.

As I walked slowly across this much calmer area of desert, which wasn't trying to pull me down into itself, a sinking feeling grew in my stomach. I couldn't stay here. But how could I ever cross the Haunted Wasteland again?

Just as I was beginning to formulate a dismal idea of how I could survive in this barren landscape, I noticed something. It must have been divine intervention again, or else just good luck, that drew my attention towards one of those huge rock walls. There was an irregularity in the stone at one point. I approached and examined it closely; in addition to being a different texture, it was also slightly softer and made a different noise when I struck it. Logic told me something was hidden beyond it, but I didn't want to blast the wall away with a great force of magic. I was playing with fire as it was, and part of me kept saying that there was no way Ganondorf could have missed my presence. So, to be safer, I used intercorporeal sensory perception to peer into the minds of anyone who might be lurking inside.

I can sense all presences in my mind, girl. Even yours.

I jumped; someone had sent me a telepathic message through the wall. Composing myself, I sent one back.

Who are you?

You should know. The Great Fairy of Magic.

Of course. I couldn't believe I hadn't realized that such a suspicious place was the home of a fairy.

Do you need something? she asked.

Well, actually, yes, please. I don't know if you can help me…

Although she used no words, I registered an emotion of annoyance at me that I would dare to think so little of her.

…but you probably can, I amended. I need a way to return here easily. I know how to use Sheikah magic to teleport, but that's really limited, and it takes a lot of energy—

Sheikah magic is only tricks and illusions, she thought scornfully.

Yes, I know it is. But I can do real magic, too.

Then why don't you know the real way to teleport?

My mind went blank. I…don't know.

Well, then, I'll teach you. Here. We call this Farore's Wind.

Before me materialized a small crystal, which radiated from within a green light. I took it in my hand; it felt cool to the touch, but quivered with power.

Touch this to the ground of a place like this one that you wish to be able to return to, and clear your mind completely. Allow an image of the place to appear within your mind's eye. Then, at any time, you can return simply by touching the crystal and allowing the memory to return. Unlike your Sheikah magic, there are no limits on distance with Farore's Wind.

She sounded so degrading that I wanted to tell her who I was and put her in her place, but I resisted the temptation to be so ungrateful and rude.

Thank you, I thought politely. I even smiled sweetly, though I knew she couldn't see me.

Good luck in whatever it is you're doing… as long as it's not in alliance with Ganondorf.

Zelda is my queen.

Then may the goddesses go with you.

I smirked. They will.

The Great Fairy sensed that I was hiding something and almost laughing at her, but I broke our telepathic connection and began to walk away before she had a chance to ask about anything. Now she had something to think about.

Farore's Wind solved half my problem, getting back when I needed to, but there was still the issue of how I was going to get out of here in one piece. Maybe I could use Sheikah magic to teleport myself to the home of the spirit guide, then follow the flags back. It would mean crossed that river again, and it was always risky to teleport myself to a place I didn't know well, but if something went wrong, I could come back here with Farore's Wind. It was worth a shot.

After establishing my teleport point near a palm tree, I stood at the flags which marked the beginning of the Haunted Wasteland. I looked back only briefly, wishing there was a safer way to do this and trying not to be nervous, then teleported in a flash of light.

* * *

Endless hot winds and one River of Sand later—it was a bit easier this time, now that I knew what I was doing—I emerged on the other side. I must had looked more than a little bedraggled and dusty, but the guard was impressed just to see me alive.

"You finished your business, then?" she asked, looking me over with raised eyebrows.

"Yes. Well, for now. I'll be back, I would imagine. See you."

I gave her a friendly smile and waved, setting off for Lake Hylia.


	14. Water

Chapter Fourteen—Water

As soon as I was outside Gerudo Valley, I changed my clothes, eyes, ears, nose, skin and hair by magic into those of Sheik. Then I dropped to my knees. I felt as though I hadn't slept for days, and I just couldn't hold myself up any longer. Crossing the Haunted Wasteland twice in one day didn't leave me much energy for trekking across Hyrule Field. I decided to just rest my eyes. _Just a short rest_, I promised, curling into a ball on the sport, then I'd be on my way.

—Link was drowning—

The vision cut across my mind and disappeared in a split second, but it was enough to make my eyes shoot open and my heart start racing. I was gasping for air as if I couldn't get enough of it, as if I was trying to breathe for myself and Link both.

I tried to think straight. Link couldn't be drowning, not when he was wearing his Zora tunic…but was he wearing it? Surely he wouldn't have been stupid enough to take it off.

At the edge of my mind, the vision waited. My will power was holding it off. But I needed to watch it. Trying to calm myself, I closed my eyes let it return.

Everything was confusion; it took several moments for me to make out what was happening amid the frantic splashing, the random shapes and colours.

_Be rational_, I told myself. I took a deep breath and looked carefully.

Link was underwater, struggling to surface. His left hand held the Master Sword, and his right held the hookshot I had seen him use before. He was thrashing wildly, entangled in the limbs of blue and yellow spider-like creatures with staring, red eyes. I had seen their kind hopping over the surface of Lake Hylia and along Death Mountain Trail—Tektites. Here, they swarmed madly over Link, preventing him from breaking through to get air…

Abruptly, one of the arachnidan Tektites let out a squeal and leapt back in pain; the others stopped moving entirely. Link had caught the soft underside of the first with his sword, and in the pause, he managed to break through the water and gasp for breath. I, too, felt as if I could now take air into my body freely.

But the Tektites weren't through. They recovered from their apparent shock and fear, only to move against Link with more violent anger. But this time, he was ready.

He took a deep breath and dove, swerving deftly beneath the water, using his hookshot in quick shots to paralyse the enemies that struggled to attack him. When he had immobilized all of them, he swam to a nearby edge and pulled himself up out of the water.

Now I got a good look at him: he was soaked from head to foot, of course, wearing his green tunic without the hat, which I supposed he had lost in the struggle, and his shield was missing from his back. He was injured, I noticed, but I the rest of the room distracted me from this. Navi was zooming about on the far side of the space, circling a monster I had never seen the likes of before that was located on a level higher up than the one on which Link stood. It looked something like a slug standing upright, with a great, leeching mouth that was leaning out towards Link, though he was far from its reach. Link glared at it, wiping his sopping hair from his eyes, and muttered, "Nice try."

To cross the room, Link performed a series of hookshot manoeuvres involving shooting himself across to statues of dragon's heads, and raising and lowering the water level by hitting coloured crystal switches. He finally drew level with the horrible slug thing by standing on one of the dragon's heads as it raised up, then using his hookshot to pull himself up and over a row of large, deadly spikes.

He was still just out of reach of the monster, so it lifted its mouth and slithered towards him, waving like grotesque seaweed. He calmly put away his hookshot and used his sword on it instead, slashing with all his strength, making it lunge away in spasms of pain. After a few strokes, it shrivelled, shrunk in on itself, and dissolved away. In its wake were left Link's Zora tunic and Hylian shield. He put down his sword to snatch up his clothes, which were dry, and slipped off his green tunic over his head to replace it with his blue one; he was wearing his white shirt and tights underneath, but I still don't think he would have done it if he'd known I could see him. He slung his shield onto his back and tucked away his wet clothes, which squelched unpleasantly, then sank to the ground.

"Link, are you hurt?" asked Navi, who was fluttering anxiously near his face.

"Nah… Tired, that's all."

He looked much more than tired. He was shaking slightly and a black eye was blossoming gruesomely on his face. Evidently he had been fighting hard before he lost his Zora tunic, because there were some rips in his clothes through which blood was seeping. He examined one such cut on his left upper arm and commented, "Damn Tektites took a piece of out me."

Navi made a small worried noise.

"I'm fine," he told her bluntly before she could speak. "Let's—Aw, man."

He had reached up to wipe back his hair, and noticed that his hat was gone. Grumbling in irritation, he turned back and squeezed between the spikes so that he could see the Tektites again; they had thrown off their paralysis and were jumping frantically towards him again, though he was easily out of their reach. A series of swift arrows from the quiver on his back dealt with each one of them quickly, and when they were all dead, he jumped down into the water and grabbed a small, dark shape that was drifting under the water. His hat. He shoved it back onto his head when he had climbed back out of the water.

"That's much better," he told Navi, putting on a smile to reassure her. "Let's go."

At that point, the vision faded, and I was left seeing nothing but the darkness of my closed eyes. I remained concerned, however, and stood up slowly to begin my walk to Lake Hylia. There were faster ways to get there, but I kept my guard up and I didn't want to try anything right now. I had a feeling that whatever Link was doing wasn't over.

I began to regain some strength as I walked, which I hoped was a sign that Link was as well, and soon I became confident that another vision wasn't coming. At any rate, there wasn't any indication that he was dying, and I was certain the goddesses would have told me somehow if he was.

Just when I was sure the danger was past, of course, a vision came so quickly and violently that I cried out. I had let my guard down, so it had struck; my body went rigid and pain pierced my skull. I pressed my hands against my closed eyes, gritting my teeth, and tried to adjust my mind so that I could actually see what the goddesses were sending to my mind.

It was by far the most disturbing vision They had yet given me.

In a space with no boundaries that I could see, with a skeletal dead tree in the middle and a locked door framed by nothing set at a distance on either side of it, standing in an inch of water that reflected the infinity all around, Link was viciously locked in combat with a dark figure. They were fighting so closely that I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began; it was as if each was trying to consume the other. Then the dark figure stepped back, out of the violent embrace, and I saw it clearly.

It was _Link_. But it wasn't; it was only a shadow of him, semi-transparent and black as smoke, with staring red eyes like dying stars. His sword and shield were identical to those of the real Link, but translucent black instead of glinting metal. No fairy fluttered around Dark Link protectively. He wasn't alive.

Yet the two Links seemed to be of one mind. They moved in such unison that I couldn't tell who had initiated the action and who was just responding. Their blades rang against each other in strokes of identical skill and power. Occasionally, one slipped through the other's defences. It disturbed me that whether good or evil struck a blow, it looked and sounded the same.

I couldn't see how either one of them would win in such a perfectly equal match; then I noticed something seemed to be changing.

Each time Link managed to deal an attack to Dark Link, the latter became blacker and more solid. He also became slightly more independent, first making small moves that the real Link didn't, gradually starting to take entire steps and jumps of his own accord. Soon it would be easy for Dark Link to win, able to read Link's mind but not bound to follow it.

Even worse than this, if such a thing were possible, was the look on Link's face. He was gritting his teeth almost as if he were in pain, and I could see him flinch every time he landed a blow. It was easy to understand why he was having a hard time with this. He was trying to kill himself. Here was another place where Dark Link had the advantage. He didn't have a heart and soul; the real Link did. And this was straining both of them to the limits.

My stomach dropped. No one could possibly drive a sword through their own body in hand to hand combat like this.

However, the Hero of Time wasn't called that for nothing, and he wasn't stupid. Apparently he foresaw the same problems I did, because he changed his strategy. To my confusion and surprise, he sheathed his sword and slung his shield over his back. I panicked, wondering what he thought he was doing as he stepped away from his counterpart and… Was he dancing? He was taking a step backwards, swinging his arms over his head… No, he was throwing something at the ground, in what I thought was an overly elaborate way, though I didn't see him holding anything as he brought his hand down. I did notice, however, that Dark Link didn't seem to know what to do when his opponent used something other than a sword and shield; he was just standing there.

From nowhere, a dome of fire expanded around the real Link as he stood with one hand near the ground. It flew out and hit Dark Link, but didn't kill him, since he wasn't flesh and couldn't catch fire. He did, however, double over and let out a grunt of pain in Link's voice.

Several times, Link performed the manoeuvre. Lunging back, swinging his arms in a circle, throwing what looked like nothing but was obviously a source of fire, and sending up a deadly dome that struck his Dark self. I was impressed at Link's innovation in using the spell, which, working from a way off, kept him safe from his enemies attacks. At the same time, it served to distance him physically from the combat so that he could distance himself emotionally. It was the fire doing the killing, not him.

It did take quite a few hits, more than I would have thought, but Dark Link finally succumbed. With a last cry of agony, he fell through the reflective floor with the substance of a shadow.

The real Link didn't relax, anticipating a trap, but his fears weren't realized. As if to show that the evil had been purged from it, the room dropped its illusionary qualities. Walls and a ceiling appeared as the mirage of endless space melted away, and the water became transparent instead of reflective. Link stood now in a room that was perfectly ordinary, albeit a little wet, next to a dead tree. He was looking around suspiciously, but the mysterious atmosphere was gone, and the doors at either end of the room—which, it was now obvious, were not sitting in the middle of emptiness but were set in walls—unlocked. Link cast around from one end of the room to the other carefully, only then becoming convinced that the battle was over.

Chuckling, he looked at what he was holding in his left hand, then threw it playfully in the air and caught it. It glinted, and I saw it was a crystal radiating from within a red light. That crystal… a magic spell. Din's Fire!

"Didn't see that coming, did you, mister… Evil Link or whatever you were," he said to the empty room.

"Dark Link," corrected Navi, who knew the names of all Ganondorf's creatures.

"Yeah, that," Link acknowledged. "He put up a good fight, just not good enough. If he's the worst thing Ganondorf's planning to throw at me, I'm not worried."

Unexpectedly, or perhaps not, Navi asked with concern, "Are you okay, Link?"

A shadow of some dark emotion crossed his face. He stopped tossing the crystal, and tucked it away, not looking at Navi as he muttered, "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go."

Yet he was very clearly not as "fine" as he claimed. What he had just done would weigh heavily on his mind for the rest of his life. I doubted he would ever forget the sight of his own pained and dying face. I knew I wouldn't.

That was Dark Link's purpose, I realized. He was not intended to be an enemy that was physically challenging to beat, though he certainly was that as well. He served to scar Link psychologically, to make him hate himself and what he had to do. To thus attempt to drive the Hero of Time away from his destiny.

As soon as this occurred to me, the vision cut out, as though its intention had been to lead me to that conclusion. I stood in the middle of Hyrule Field with my hands over my face.

It took a moment before the meaning of the vision struck me. Dark Link must have been the final boss of the Water Temple, meaning that Link was about to move onto the Spirit Temple! But first I had to get to Lake Hylia to meet him—

No, wait. That didn't make sense. Whenever I received a vision of Link at the end of a Temple, it was fragmented, and afterwards, Link was transported to the Chamber of Sages, not just allowed through a locked door. That meant that Dark Link was nothing more than a particularly difficult enemy in the middle of the Temple, some sort of prelude or warning of what was yet to come, perhaps.

_Please let him be okay. I can't help him_.

* * *

Needless to say, I was pacing nervously when I arrived at Lake Hylia. I walked in circles around the small island in the middle of the lake, which was in fact that roof of the Temple. I wanted news of Link's condition. I wanted to know what was happening. I glanced continually at the small platform in the middle of the island, the warp point where I knew Link would eventually appear.

Finally, I felt a vision verging slowly. I set down, reclining against the single, large tree on the island, and closed my eyes to watch.

It was blurry and vague, appropriately enough as though I was seeing it through water. Link was standing on the edge of a room whose walls were each lined with a row of large and deadly spikes pointing into the middle. Most of the room was filled with water of an unnaturally bright shade of blue, and there were four platforms at intervals in the pool. I took in all of this in a brief second; then the battle began.

Everything swam in and out of focus. I saw a huge tentacle of water reaching up out of the pool… Link was armed with his hookshot, though it was purple now for some reason… there was a red, electric-looking bulge in the water, like a nucleus… Link was shooting for it… the tentacle lunged towards Link, but he dodged it… he grabbed the nucleus with his hookshot, pulled it towards him and slashed at it… I thought he looked as though he had some minor injuries, cuts and bruises… another tentacle was emerging… it grabbed him…

The tentacle was flailing Link about wildly, and although he was shouting, he sounded more annoyed and inconvenienced than scared or in pain... Then I saw the Master Sword fly from his grip, clattering on the edge of the pool, balancing near the water's edge, almost falling in…

I saw the scene in perfect detail, so clearly it was almost in slow motion, as the water flung Link towards the merciless metal spikes. He cried out as he soared across the room, and struck the wall hard. His back was protected from the spikes by his shield… but his head whipped backwards and slammed against the stone with an audible _crack_.

For a moment, time stopped. He was flat against the wall, his eyes wide with shock, his mouth slightly open in a gasp. Then he slid down to the floor, taking an age to fall sideways and hit the hard, wet stone without even making an effort to stop himself. There he lay without moving; his eyes were blank and staring, and a trickle of blood was seeping from the back of his head. His neck was bent at a grotesque angle. His chest wasn't rising and falling with breath. His bruised and beaten body, crafted by the goddesses to be perfect, was still.

So was my heart in my chest and my breath in my lungs. I simply could not understand what I was seeing.

_No_…

"No—NO! LINK! _LINK_!"

I realized I was screaming, screaming his name over and over. It tore at my throat, but I didn't care and I didn't stop. I felt sick. My head was spinning. I didn't know what was happening. My thoughts were incoherent.

_He's not, he can't be, that would mean Ganondorf won, it's not fair, I never said goodbye, he never saw me, he never knew, he'll never know, it's over, it's all over_…

Something more was happening. A small pink sparkle was floating over Link's body. A fairy. Oh, Navi, didn't she know? Couldn't she tell?

No, it couldn't be. Navi was a guardian fairy, and she was blue. This fairy was pink. Pink fairies were—my heart leapt painfully—_healing_ fairies!

Already, magic was spreading over Link's body, healing his wounds. The blood staining his hair remained, but the flow stopped. His skin smoothed over, his bruises faded, and his whole body returned to perfect health. He took a deep, shuddering breath, blue eyes slowly opening. Life returned to them like fire. The fairy was gone, leaving Link as strong and healthy as if he'd never sustained an injury, though the state of his clothes and the blood stain on the wet stone attested otherwise.

"He's alive…" I whispered, tears sliding down my face.

He jumped to his feet and spotted his sword, teetering on the edge of the water. Springing halfway across the room, he grabbed it before it could fall and resumed his fighting stance; he grinned up aggressively at the aquatic tentacle that waved threateningly in the air before him. I was so relieved that my entire body went limp and I felt slightly dizzy.

"Oh, he's really alive!"

My mind was so clouded by emotion after that point that I could barely see the vision and I certainly didn't care much about it. Link was alive. That was what mattered. So it seemed to me unexpectedly soon that Link dealt the deathblow to the pulsating, red blob that was the heart and mind of the electric blue water. The image of Link, alive and well, faded faster than I wanted it to.

Opening my eyes, I found that my heart was thumping hard. I sighed and lifted a trembling hand to my forehead. Link would be here soon, after he finished talking to Ruto, and I would have to compose myself before then. I giggled nervously to myself; he wouldn't want to prolong that conversation, though she might. Trying to calm myself, to look wise and emotionally aloof, a stood up and began to pace again.

Two things happened simultaneously: a beam of blue light over the warp point announced Link's impending arrival, and Lake Hylia began to refill slowly but surely with a deep, luxurious roar of water.

Link blinked in surprise when he touched down from the light. "Sheik!" he called out to me. "I didn't expect to see—"

He cut himself off, and his welcoming smile disappeared to be replaced by a concerned frown.

"You look like…you've been crying."

Startled, I lowered my head and turned away, towards the water, but Link circled around to look at me. He reached out, apparently to lift my face up to his, and I stepped swiftly out of his reach.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, dropping his arm to his side and looking confused.

"Oh. Nothing. No. I—I…" Casting around for a change of subject and putting on a gruff exterior, I asked, "Did Ruto want to thank me?"

"Yeah, she did," Link replied, still frowning. "Are you sure—?"

"Look," I interrupted, indicating the lake in the hope that the scenery would distract him. He looked casually over his shoulder, but when he saw it, he turned fully around and stared incredulously. I, too, standing next to him, took in the view.

"It's amazing," he said softly.

It was beautiful; the sun was shimmering across the gentle ripples of the water as it rose, lapping towards the emerald grass. The light also caught wisps of his blond hair and made them glow like a halo around his face. It was one of the few times when Link wasn't laughing to downplay the seriousness of a situation; for once I could see the part of him that was a child in Kokiri Forest, that liked to ride across Hyrule Field just to feel the wind, that was in love with Malon, that missed having a family, and that was a heart and soul instead of just a hero.

This moment could make him forget Dark Link. All this was worth fighting for.

As I watched him gaze out over everything, I wanted to touch him just to make sure he was real. I couldn't forget the image in my mind of his lifeless body, lying broken and bleeding on the wet stone, and wonder how he could be standing before me.

"Life is amazing," I told him, the words so quiet I wasn't sure if he could hear me.

I reached out a hand towards his arm, but stopped myself. Silently, stifling the pain it caused me to do so, I stepped backwards, out of his range of vision.

"Sheik," he said quietly, "how do you do it? How do you always know where to be and how to help and…"

He turned around and saw that I was gone; I had jumped out of sight into the high branches of the tree. Link looked around for me, but didn't think to look up.

"Navi, did you see him go?"

"No…"

"I'll see you again," I whispered.

I dove from the tree into the lake, found where I had tucked away the Farore's Wind crystal, and allowed myself to disappear back to the Desert Colossus.


	15. Spirit

Chapter Fifteen—Spirit

_Hot_.

The word lodged itself dully in my brain the instant I arrived in the middle of the desert. I was wearing my Sheikah clothes, and while these were all well and good while I was at Lake Hylia, where a breeze blew in from over the water, they were torture here. I understood now why Gerudo warriors dressed the way they did, but I could hardly change my outfit again and meet Link that way. I laughed to imagine the look on his face if I appeared before him as a woman—a Gerudo, nonetheless.

I quickly stopped laughing, though, when I realized what he would have to go through to get here. It could be several days before he managed to get through the Gerudo Fortress and the Haunted Wasteland; he was at a severe disadvantage, being male and unable to disguise himself as otherwise. Just as bad was the fact that I would have to wait for him here, sweating to death in the process. Of course, I could leave, but I would have to do it the hard way…and just the thought of tackling that desert again exhausted me. I made a face of displeasure directed at nothing in particular.

Looking around, for what, I couldn't have said, I spotted an old oasis. It consisted of a dark hollow in the sand, with a lone tree and a flat rock nearby, and I could tell it was dry. Knowing that there had once been water here and now wasn't made me notice that I was thirsty. I approached the small, dried-up puddle, hoping that close up I would find it filled with cool, clean water, but of course my wishes didn't come true. Desperate, I dropped to my knees on the rock by the pool and prayed.

_Please, goddesses. I am Nayru's daughter. I need to survive here until Link comes. He is Farore's son. If You want Your children to be able to do Your bidding, please provide for us_.

It was of course possible that the rain which began to patter softly on the back of my hot neck at that moment was a natural occurrence and a coincidence. I doubted it, though, and I was thoroughly convinced that the fairies which flocked to the new pool at that moment were a result of my prayers. They were pink healing fairies of the same type that had saved Link's life; they could help me, too.

Eagerly, I climbed into the small oasis, wading up to my thighs, and drank from it; the cold water slid down my throat and felt like life itself. I splashed it all over my body, sinking to my knees and felt my tired muscles relax. The fairies fluttering around the water were imparting the same renewed strength into me that they had granted Link to bring him back from death.

My mind cleared now that I was refreshed, as though the water had splashed the dust away from it, and I began thinking resourcefully. Those evil-looking black birds that glided around in circles would be fairly easy to catch and turn into food. I could light a fire with a couple of dry sticks from the tree I was sitting next to. I smiled.

_There's a way to survive anywhere, if you look for it. Impa would be proud_.

Guilt hit me squarely in the stomach at this thought. How long had it been since I had seen Impa? I remembered out conversation when I'd had the vision of Link defeating Volvagia, but that was ages ago. With a wave of nausea in my stomach, I wondered if there had been an attempt on her life that I hadn't been able to protect her from. What if her life was in danger right now?

I stared at my reflection in the water of the now full oasis, rippling as periodic drops fell from my skin and the free locks of my hair. There was fear unmistakably in those red eyes; I brushed some of my sopping hair over to cover one of them. I wanted to hide. For the first time in many years, I wished with all my heart that I didn't have to be the one doing all of this.

Even as I watched, my reflection melted in the ripples until it wasn't mine anymore. I stared into the infinite blue eyes of Nayru, as she had appeared to me in the Sacred Realm. Her face did not reflect her emotions; she communicated her thoughts directly to my mind. When she didn't speak, I addressed her.

"I don't think I'm going to be a very good leader."

She only looked at me, but I felt her telling me to have faith.

"I have faith in You and in Your sisters, and in Link, but not in myself."

Nothing changed; she sent me her thoughts in a steady rhythm.

:_Have faith_… _have faith_…:

Daring to say what I was thinking, I asked sheepishly, "Do You…ever make mistakes?"

:…_have faith_…:

"I just mean, is it possible that You were wrong to choose me for this?"

:…_have faith_…:

Annoyed, I cried loudly, "That's easy for You to say! Or think, or whatever You're doing! You know how this is all going to turn out, don't You! But _I don't_! Maybe You want me to have faith so that I'll become overconfident and fail! Maybe _that's_ my destiny! You wouldn't be happy or upset one way or the other, would You, as long as I do what I'm supposed to!" My voice was cracking as it slipped out of my control, my face twisted to fight back tears of rage, to keep from collapsing and giving up. "Because You're _immortal_, a goddess, it doesn't _matter_ to You! But it matters to _me_! It matters to me if I live or die, if _Impa_ lives or dies, if _Link_ lives or dies, because I _love_ them! I loved my mom and dad, too, they mattered to me! But You didn't care, You _killed_ them! You created Ganondorf and You made all _this_ happen! You don't care about me! You say I'm Your daughter, but Mom would never—_never_—do this to me, not if she could help it, and You _can_!"

I violently slashed at her frustratingly calm reflection, shattering it into thousands of shards of light, but it recomposed itself into perfection again. I couldn't help it; I kept shouting at her.

"What are You trying to do to me! Are You trying to teach me something! Because I don't know what the lesson is! Maybe it's to know what pain and suffering really are! Or…maybe…"

My voice faded out, because something had occurred to me as suddenly as if Nayru had just said it.

"Maybe…" I continued, feeling my heart beat, slow and hard, in my chest, "this is all a trial. Maybe You want to show me what life is like at its worst, so that I can rule fairly over all people and empathize with them instead of sitting perfectly comfortable on my throne in my sheltered world—the way all the kings and queens before me have done."

:…_have faith_… _You are more talented than you know_.:

Nayru's reflection dissolved into mine, which let out a soft, slightly bitter laugh. Of course it would be something obscure like that, some profound moral lesson that a mortal like me would grossly oversimplify.

* * *

Not being able to contact Impa was by far the hardest part of living in the Desert Colossus. Whether that fact proved how easy survival turned out to be or how much I cared about Impa, I wasn't not sure. Maybe it was both. All I knew was that I got so wrapped up in my own life that I almost forgot about Link. 

I didn't entirely forget him, of course. One of the first things I did, in fact, was enter the Spirit Temple myself to see what sort of challenges he would have to face. The first thing I found was that two of the pots flew at me, possessed of their own powers of motion, but I ducked and they shattered harmlessly on the wall behind me. Other than those, the main room contained nothing more than a stairway leading up to four perfectly still statues of horned monsters with swords and shields, a large block in the wall on my right and a small hole in the wall on my left. Far more interesting was what I found on the lower level of the room; two large, bird-headed frames that looked to be carved of bronze and held two massive stone tablets with inscriptions. One referred to needing the "power of silver," and the other, to the necessity of returning here "with the pure heart of a child." Obviously Link was supposed to come here seven years ago; correction, he _had_ come here seven years ago, but he didn't know it yet. I wondered at first why this would be, until I remembered what had taken place then. Evidently he was to witness Nabooru's disappearance… but as to the "power of silver," I didn't have a clue.

* * *

Devoting all my time and energy to survival meant I lost track of time as it existed on any grander scale than sunrise, sunset. I learned to associate sunset with when a small band of Gerudo women came to perform guard duty or some such thing, and that I therefore had to stay well hidden at night. Other than that, there were no changes in the monotony of heat, dryness and dust. 

So it was that I received a horrible shock one day when I returned from where I had been hunting behind the Temple itself and saw a figure covered in dust, dressed in a red hat and tunic, entering the Temple. Link had arrived, and I had nearly missed him!

Quickly throwing aside the bird I had just caught, I dusted myself off a bit, though I didn't think I could have possibly been any dirtier than Link; he was so covered in sand that his earrings didn't even catch the light of the desert sun, not to mention looking quite beaten and bruised. Apparently the Gerudo had not taken kindly to a male visitor.

I hid myself behind an arch of wind-eroded rock to wait. Link would come out when he realized he needed to return to the Temple of Time to become a child, and then I would catch him. Sure enough, only a moment later, he re-emerged onto the threshold of the Temple followed closely by Navi. She was the only thing in sight that sparkled, the oasis having long since dried up again.

Link was frowning as he tried futilely to brush himself off, saying to his companion, "So we've gotta return to the past again, I guess. But there's no way the Gerudo are gonna let a kid into their territory."

"Especially not a boy," Navi agreed.

"Yeah. And even if they did, there's no way I'm crossing that wasteland again."

"You're so little when you're young, you'd probably get blown away," Navi said, deadpan, but I knew she was teasing.

"Hey, shut up. Look who's talking!"

Navi giggled.

"I would have thought we'd run into Sheik by now," Link mused, looking around. "The warp platform is right there, and we won't be able to get back here without a song."

That was my cue. I stepped out of my hiding place and began my usual cryptic philosophy.

"Past…present…and future," I said softly. "Time is a current along which you travel. The Master Sword is your vessel, and you alone can use it to pass down the streams of time at will. Use the Requiem of Spirit when you wish to return here…with the pure heart of a child."

The song I played was reminiscent of Gerudo culture—deep, mysterious, strangely compelling and beautiful. Link copied it carefully. We both knew what was coming next, though I did hold out a little hope that he just wouldn't try.

"Sheik…"

Before he could say more, I stepped back. A sudden blast of wind blew a curtain of sand between us, and Link had to cover his eyes against it. While he couldn't look, I teleported in the Sheikah way to the top of the rock formation I had been hiding behind.

Link cast around for any sign of me, of course, when the wind died down, but the sand had obliterated any I might have left. He made an irritable noise in his throat before putting the Ocarina of Time to his lips again and playing the Prelude of Light. I let out a sigh of relief when he disappeared in a yellow glimmer. Now I could leave this place and, with luck, never return again.

This, however, presented the question of how I was going to get out of here.

_Why, goddesses, did the Gerudo have to build a Temple in what is as close to the literal middle of nowhere as anything could possibly get?_

I decided to confront the challenge in the morning.

* * *

"Hey! You!" 

A voice woke me up in the middle of the night. It took several moments for me to remember where I was, why my bed was so uncomfortable, and who must have been jabbing a spear into my side. Apparently the Gerudo had found my little sleeping spot up in a niche of one of the rock walls. Two of them stood before me, armed with the traditional curved blades of their people slung at their waists in addition to the spears they carried.

_Uh-oh_.

"You are under arrest!" one of them barked. "You are trespassing on Gerudo territory!"

I started to palm two throwing stars, but stopped myself when I had a thought. If they arrested me, they would have to transport me across the Haunted Wasteland to throw me in prison. I was sure my cell would be easy enough to break out of; at any rate, easier than crossing that damn desert yet again. How convenient. Trying not to look delighted, I put my hands in the air.

"Fine," I sighed, making my voice sound as depressed as though my plans had been thwarted, "take me."

They tied my hands behind my back, slid me down the rock wall and led me to where they had tied their horses. I had to share with one of the warriors, and I sat in front so she could keep an eye on me. They looked mildly impressed that I managed without much difficulty to balance on horseback without the use of my hands, and I smiled to myself as we set off.

_Basic Sheikah training—Thank you, Lekhan_.

The horses were obviously trained to find the easiest way through the Haunted Wasteland and back to their stables, because they negotiated the quicksand and confusing expanse with an east that was more than a little annoying when I considered how much trouble I went through crossing it. They even found a place where the River of Sand was narrow enough that they could jump it. I'll admit I was pleasantly surprised at the speed with which we returned to civilization.

I attracted quite a few mistrustful glares, which were to be expected, as my escorts took me to my prison cell. They untied me before shoving me unceremoniously into it.

"This should teach you never to underestimate the Gerudo," snarled one of the guards. "You think you're so great, but it's only one in a million men who has enough skill to join our ranks."

I looked at her and frowned. "Does that mean there are some men in your ranks? I thought you were all female."

She didn't say anything; she simply glared at me suspiciously, daring me to ask for more information.

"Fine," I sighed again. "Don't tell me anything."

They closed the door behind me.

Within a minute, I was on the other side of the narrow gorge that separated Gerudo Valley from Hyrule Field.

* * *

Naturally, Impa had not remained in one place for the entirety of my trip. I knew this would be the case when I set out from Gerudo Valley, but I also knew her movement patterns well enough guess that she was somewhere around Kakariko, so that was my destination; I found her quickly. 

Impa had set up a tent beneath an overhang over the waterway that ran into Zora's River from Hyrule Field. When she saw me approaching, I waved, and she smiled back, but her eyes betrayed her fear.

"Sheik," she said bluntly as soon as I was close enough to speak with her at normal volume, "we might be staying here for some time. I think we may be needed in the very near future."

"Why?"

I didn't waste time being emotional and concerned; that would help no one. I just needed the facts. I pushed down any uneasiness that surfaced at the thought of Impa in danger.

"Bongo Bongo is going to break out of the barriers I put around him," she said, still speaking in a flatly detached voice. "I know it, I'm resigned to it, it's unavoidable. We are now just waiting for it to happen."

"And then?"

Impa looked towards Kakariko. "Then…we attack," she sighed. "We defend the town against this evil."

At that moment, I wanted to tell her everything Nayru had told me. A wave of concern hit me, though I had been trying to hold it back, and I just wanted to explain, to warn her that her life was in danger, to tell her what Link was doing, to share all the secrets of my identity— I could never do all that. It was just too dangerous. I swallowed it.

"I'll be there behind you as soon as it happens," I promised. "Nothing could stop me."

Looking at me sternly, Impa said, "You have other duties."

"This is as important as any of those."

"You have another _destiny_."

"This is equally important."

She thought I was missing what she was trying to say; I knew she was missing what I was trying to say.

"Listen carefully," I said slowly. "I know that I have some very important things to do. I'm on top of them. I'm keeping track of them. One of the most important things for me to do is to support you and help you with what you have to do."

We stared at each other as though trying to read each other's minds. When she was awakened as a Sage, I reflected, we would be able to for real.

"Do you understand what I'm telling you?" I asked.

She was frowning at me with her eyes, contemplating.

"Yes."

"Are you_ sure_?"

She was still contemplating.

"Yes," she finally said firmly. "Yes, I am sure. I didn't understand before, but now I do."

"Good."

We both tried to smile, to make light of a situation we knew was unpleasant and unsafe, but it didn't quite work. The knot in my stomach, which hadn't really gone away in over seven years, tightened.

_Please, goddesses, give us the strength we need to do this_.

* * *

Link had arrived at the Spirit Temple in the late afternoon, so I expected that, the next day, I would receive a vision any moment of him reaching its end. However, I had forgotten to account for time travel, other adventuring, and, of course, sleep. The entire next day passed without a sign from the Temple, although Link left his mark outside the Desert Colossus; the gossip on everyone's lips was that Talon had returned to power at Lon Lon Ranch, and I knew who had to be responsible for that. 

Sure enough, when I visited the Ranch the next morning, I saw Malon beaming as though she had never known a greater joy than that in which she now lived. She waved brightly when I approached, and ran towards me with her skirts and hair trailing in the breeze like bright flags advertising her happiness.

"Hi," we said in unison when she stopped before me, brushing bright red hair off of her face.

"Did your hero save you?" I asked, concealing my smile.

She laughed, with a smile that of a girl who had more good news than simply the return of her father. "You know the answer to that. But I've been meaning to ask you…" her smiled faded slightly, "Did he come here…just because you told him to?"

I told her the truth.

"When I saw Link for the first time, I gave him an important mission. I also mentioned that if he could find the time, he should visit here. This was the first place he came after that conversation."

Blushing happily, Malon said, "Thanks. And he said… he promised he'd help me. And he did."

"Of course he did."

Malon paused, and dropped her gaze sadly. "He's hardly visited, though," she said quietly. "Only twice. Do you think—?"

"I think he wants to get his other mission over with," I said, swiftly cutting in before she could voice her concerns. "I think if it was up to him, he'd be here more often than he'd be out fighting."

"But it _is_ up to him."

"It's up to destiny. It's up to the goddesses."

Malon was still looking down, thinking this information over. After a moment, she asked slowly, "Will you see him against soon?"

"Almost certainly."

"Can you give him a message from me?"

"Of course."

"Tell him…that I love him. For everything he's done for me and for Hyrule. For everything that he is."

"I will," I promised. Then, smiling, I elaborated, "A man is sure to fight with more heart if he is doing it for the love of a woman, and women like you are rare. You are the only one, out of the many who imagine themselves to be in love with the Hero of Time, who actually is. And I am quite sure you are the only one whose feelings he could ever return."

The warm smile had returned to Malon's lips. "Thank you."

Before the words were really out of her mouth, a vision struck and blinded me. I should have seen it coming. My body felt suddenly exhausted as all the energy was wiped from it, and I gripped Malon by the shoulder to keep from falling down. She quickly grabbed my arm and gasped, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing… Ah… I need to sit down…"

With strength I wouldn't have expected from one of her small frame, Malon draped my arm over her shoulders, wrapped her own arm around my waist, and half-carried me into the house. Meanwhile, I saw glimpses of the vision mingled with glimpses of what was actually before my eyes.

I collapsed into the first chair I saw and dropped my head onto the table, burying it in my arms. I heard Malon ask shakily, "Do you want a drink or something?" but I couldn't summon the energy to answer.

Link was standing on a huge platform with his sword sheathed on his back and only his shield in use. It was a shield I had never seen before… It shone…. It was a mirror—

Two witches, hideous old crones, were circling on broomsticks… One was bedecked in flames, which licked from her hair, and the other in ice—

One shot a beam of molten lava at Link, who deflected it with that shield… The icy one was wounded—

Link was frozen in a blast of ice… His face contorted with pain, every muscle straining—

Fire…

Ice…

Blasts flashed back and forth… striking the witches… striking Link—

Navi flew between them, confused—

Suddenly there was one witch, a towering woman who needed no broomstick to fly and who wielded fire in one hand and ice in the other… Now, with a single target, Link could aim—

He took every blast with his shield… Nothing got past him—

The witch dropped out of the sky… Link slashed… I had never seen his blade fly so quickly—

The vision moved quickly… She was up— Elemental blasts— Down—

Link, shield… sword—

Two witches again, but this time they were colourless and transparent… ghosts… They floated away, yelling, bickering… and Link laughed at them as he watched them go, even as he gasped for breath and wiped the sweat from his brow.

Lon Lon Ranch didn't disappear again when it came into view this time. The utter exhaustion, which had so suddenly swept over me, dissolved away. I lifted my head and saw Malon standing across the table, white with fear.

"Are you all right?" she asked quietly.

"Yes… You don't look very well, though," I pointed out, trying to deflect attention from my own weakness.

"_Me_! I'm not the one who nearly— I don't know what! Oh, Sheik, you're shaking like a leaf and you're sweating… I've never seen anything like that."

Annoyed at myself for handling the situation so badly, I repeated, "Yes. Don't worry about me. It was just—nothing. I'm fine now."

Of course she didn't believe me. She was still staring, wide-eyed and concerned I might go into another fit.

"It's over," I assured her. "It was just…a vision."

Malon gasped and took a step back from me, her hands over her mouth. "You have _visions_?" she breathed. "Does that mean you're psychic or something?"

How much could I tell her without revealing my secret?

"No, I'm not, but the goddesses want me to help Link, so sometimes They give me visions to show me what he's doing and that I'm going to need to help him soon."

As soon as I finished my explanation, I realized that it wasn't going to alleviate Malon's fears at all.

"You have to— The goddesses were telling you Link needs your help?" she asked. Quite suddenly, she began hauling me to my feet and towards the door, so carelessly that I nearly tripped over my own feet. "Go help him!" she demanded. "It must be important and it must be bad! If that's what happened to _you_, what must have happened to him? You have to go!"

I tried to explain that Link was okay, but she was talking over me and not listening.

"Hurry!" she finished, shoving me out the door. I stood there for a minute, looking at the door she slammed behind me, and didn't know whether or not to laugh. I shook my head, then headed off towards Kakariko.

The next, and last, Temple was locate in the graveyard. I didn't like how my two tasks were folding into one, and I wasn't sure if Link would be able to figure out where to come.

Something unnerved me as I approached Kakariko Village. It was darker than usual, and there was more smoke pouring up from behind its high walls than the combined fireplaces of its people would usually emit… huge, billowing clouds of it, curling up towards the sun…

_Fire_!


	16. Shadow

Chapter Sixteen—Shadow

I was sprinting towards the town before I realized I was, without thinking of anything but saving it. Somewhere, the Hero of Time was battling towards his next challenge; this challenge called for another hero, right now, and it would have to be me.

Just inside the walls of Kakariko, all its people were screaming and running apparently at random. The mysterious draining of the well years before meant that there was hardly any water in the town. I looked desperately around for Impa, and spotted her clinging to the edge of the well and staring down into it.

"Impa!" I screamed, and I knew my voice came out more feminine than it should have. Impa whirled around; it was the first time I had ever seen terror written on every part of her face.

"Bongo Bongo has broken out," she told me grimly.

This news slammed me like a solid wall. I felt stupid for not realizing it as soon as I saw all the chaos.

"What? When? Why?"

"Just now. The well isn't his home, and he's been fighting to get out of it since the day I sealed him there… I knew it wouldn't work. He's going for the Shadow Temple now. That's why he broke out. This time, I'm going to seal him away for real. You stay here and help put out the fire, then—" She stopped herself before choking out, "come help me."

I nodded stiffly, and Impa hurried away. Only then did I realize that I had agreed to do something I didn't have the first clue how to do. There was no water in Kakariko. There was a river outside, but I had no way to bring water from it. Impa didn't know where Bongo Bongo was, and what if he turned up and I wasn't there to help the people fight him?

My brain was jammed. My feet wouldn't move. I stood staring at the well in a daze as the world spun around me. I could barely think.

_It's happening_…

"Sheik!"

_Impa is in danger_…

"Sheik!"

_And I'm not helping_…

"SHEIK!"

Someone grabbed my shoulder; I jumped and turned around, heart hammering before it shot up in my chest when I recognized the person before me. I had never been so relieved to see Link. He was dressed in green and no longer covered in dust, and his forearms shone with new armour; gauntlets made of what I recognized to be real silver had taken the place of his leather ones. Something stirred in my memory… _the power of silver_…

"Sheik, what's going on?" he demanded. He didn't seem remotely afraid, and I knew he was waiting for me to speak with the same philosophical strength I always did, but I just couldn't muster it this time, not while Impa was in danger. I wanted to cry on his shoulder, and I wanted him to reassure me that everything would be okay. I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, I felt the ground beneath me rumble.

"Link, stand back!" I cried, reaching out to push him away as I turned back to the well. He pushed my arm away and stepped forward.

"Wha—?"

With the force of an explosion, something burst out of the well and soared up. It was almost invisible, like wind, yet somehow unmistakably a real thing, and I knew immediately that I could never fight it. It dived and wrapped around me before I could move to get away, holding my body in a vice-like grip and flinging me around with such force that I was helpless to fight back…

The world went black, and all I could hear was wind howling, myself trying and failing to cry out as a shadow monster flung me through the air, and Link shouting… Then I hit the ground, my neck seared with pain on impact, and I was unconscious.

* * *

_Agony_…

When I came to, my body ached all over before I even tried to move, and my neck felt as though I had broken it. I let out a sigh of relief when I moved trembling fingers and toes and found I still had the use of all my limbs. I was amazed to be alive.

_Thank you, goddesses_.

My head spun nauseatingly when I sat up, the blood pounding through my skull. I moaned and opened my eyes to look around.

The fire was out, and the villagers had returned to their homes, which were singed and wet but mostly intact. No one took the time to pay attention to the person lying in the middle of the town—or rather, the two people.

Link, too, lay on the ground, spread-eagled and unconscious but apparently unharmed. A sparkle flickered at the edge of his hat near his hairline. Navi. Bongo Bongo had attacked us, but I had survived, and somehow I just knew that Link had as well.

I stood up shakily, swaying a little as I did so, and staggered to Link's side. Standing was proving too difficult, so I knelt down as I tried to enter his mind.

::Wake up… Wake up…::

He let out a low moan and rolled his head over to one side. Navi feebly lifted herself off his forehead and hovered there, swerving unsteadily in midair. It looked as though it cost Link an incredible effort to pull himself to a sitting position; I knew exactly how he felt.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly.

With his face screwed up in pain, he shook his head to clear it. Apparently this was a mistake, because he moaned again and rubbed his face with his hands very childishly.

"I dunno…" he mumbled sleepily, sounding much younger than his seventeen years. "What happened?"

"We were attacked," I told him grimly, "by a monster that came out of the well. You were out cold for a while. I'm glad you finally came to."

Blinking blearily, he asked, "Weren't you knocked out, too?"

"Yes, we both were." I couldn't think straight. My head was still pounding. "But that's not the point."

_Impa's in danger_, I remembered,_ and I'm not helping_.

There was no time to be cryptic and mysterious. Impa needed Link, and I had already failed her.

"The monster broke out," I began to explain, being very straightforward. "Impa's gone to seal it in the Shadow Temple. Impa is the Sage of Shadow."

Link was standing up, with a bit more ease than I had done. He could apparently regain his strength quickly.

"You must go help Impa," I said urgently, trying again to stand up. When I nearly fell over again, Link grabbed my hand and pulled me up. "Thank you," I said, but he didn't answer.

He was looking at my hand suspiciously, and I knew he was noticing that, while it was mostly covered, it remained noticeably too femininely tapered to be a man's. He looked slowly up my arm and body, into my face, looking closely at my eyes and frowning. I pulled myself away from him and looked down to take out my harp.

"You must go help Impa," I repeated, my voice shaking slightly. I cleared my throat to bring it back under control. "Play the Nocturne of Shadow."

This song was a range of notes that turned like day into night and back again, as swiftly as the Sheikah people. Link copied it hurriedly, and I knew he wanted to ask me questions; namely, why I had tears in my eyes when I spoke of Impa, and why I had the build of a woman. If he found out more about these things than he already knew, it wouldn't be a far stretch for him to determine my true identity. I spoke to keep from giving him a chance to say anything.

"Please hurry… Impa needs you, now. She's in the Shadow Temple. You have to go there and defeat the monster Bongo Bongo. Go now. It's urgent. I must— I have other things to do."

Sounding annoyed, Link began, "Why do you always—"

Before he could finish, I threw a Deku Nut and teleported myself with a bright flash to the camp Impa and I had set up just outside the village. As I looked around, it occurred to me that this could very well be the last Sheikah camp I ever called home.

_Link's going to the last Temple, to awaken the last Sage_.

This thought filled me with a burning desire for all of this to be over, for Ganondorf to be dead… to get back my home…

_To get back my parents_…

_To get back my life_…

To get back the seven years Link and I had lost.

* * *

I had forgotten to tell him. 

In all the confusion about Bongo-Bongo and Impa and Kakariko Village, I had forgotten to give him Malon's message.

When I remembered this, my stomach squirmed guiltily. _There were more important things going on then_, I argued with myself. _Impa was in danger, and…_

_So what_? I argued back. _Does how much Impa means to you matter more than how much Malon and Link mean to each other_?

I didn't know the answer to my own question.

* * *

Packing my camp consumed my thoughts so completely that I wouldn't have heard the approaching footsteps even if they had belonged to one much more careless than a member of the Shadow people. 

"Sheik," said a vaguely familiar voice.

I turned sharply, cursing the negligence which had allowed an invader to come so close to me. My cat-like readiness dropped immediately, however, when I saw who stood there.

"Jaret," I replied, hoping I could match his tone for casual distance. Although I suspected I had failed, he merely nodded.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. This time, I heard in his voice a lack of control that was distinctly different from the traits which characterized the Sheikah. "And you're not with Impa. Have you…parted ways with her?"

His voice had the cultured, deeper lilt of a man's now, not the undeveloped pitch of a boy's. I remembered watching him years ago as he strived towards manhood—he had achieved such status fully now that he was twenty-one years old, it was clear, but something about the way he carried himself made me suspect it had come at a cost.

"You've seen the state of the world," I answered simply. "It's sometimes necessary for us to distance ourselves from those we hold most dear."

Jaret's eyes darkened. "You don't need to conduct yourself so formally with one of your own kinsmen." In the Sheikah world, all were as family.

"I know," I said, almost apologetically, "but I'm unused to being able to speak freely."

"Yes, I understand." A trace of a smile creased his face, and he tilted his head thoughtfully. "How many years has it been since we sparred, Sheik?"

I withdrew mentally, hoping he wouldn't ask me to do so. "Many," I replied shortly.

"Too many."

"Are you out of practice?" I asked shrewdly.

"Are you?"

"There's no room to be out of practice when living in a world of frequent and violent conflict."

"Then you've just answered your own question."

I gave a small laugh; it was the first time in as many years as I could remember that I had done any such thing. "I suppose I have."

"But I suppose you especially have had your reasons to keep your steel sharp."

I was confused, until he elaborated.

"I've heard tales of you, Sheik. Hero of the people, hero of Hyrule. Until the Hero of Time came."

Of course. My reputation had spread over all boundaries of class, race, and culture. "The salvation of the world is rightly Link's domain," I informed him modestly and truthfully.

When I spoke, Jaret raised his eyebrows, and several seconds passed before I realized what I had done to incite this reaction.

"Link?" he inquired. "You're on such personal terms with the legendary Hero that you can call him by his first name?"

I hesitated. "I am, in fact," I admitted momentarily. Hoping to change the subject, I told him, "But if you know so much of me, I should learn as much about you. Where have you been all these years?"

Jaret smiled once more. "That blatant attempt to change the subject is an insult to the cunning of our people," he commented.

I wasn't used to dealing with real Sheikah; there were times when I felt like one myself, but I could never ignore the fact that someone else lurked beneath my skin. I had to let her do so, I knew, or I would be driven to insanity. I would forget my own life.

"Be that as it may," I persisted, "the question remains a valid one. Tell me about you. How is it you came to be standing here in my camp?"

Jaret sighed. "I couldn't take it anymore, Sheik," he said candidly. "I don't need to tell you what's been going on in the world. You've seen it. You've been fighting it. And of course the Sheikah keep track of their people, so…we all knew that you were out there being the great hero." A playful smile lit his features. "Impa's little nobleman nephew, all grown up and living the life of a true shadow warrior. So I couldn't exactly let you show me up, could I? You did enough of that when we were kids."

I smiled in return, though I wasn't sure how much of these speech was sincere and how much was a casual attempt to regain the innocence of our earlier days. He should have known that I had never been innocent when I had known him, and indeed he did, but he didn't know why.

"So you decided to be a hero, too?" I inquired.

He shrugged. "I suppose. Something like that. But…well, it's kind of hard to explain, but…I wanted to be a Sheikah hero. One thing I always noticed in the tales we heard of you, Sheik, was that you always fought for the Hylians."

Rather hurt, I said defensively, "I protected the lives of the heirs of both the Goron and Zora thrones." _And I let down the Kokiri and Gerudo_…

"Yes, I know," Jaret agreed with a nod. "But what about the Sheikah? Your own people, Sheik. When did you ever help us?"

His words struck me strongly and painfully, on more levels than one. His point was true. I had prided myself on helping all the people of Hyrule, but I had neglected the race which probably needed me the most. I had assumed that I was immersed in the culture of the shadow people so far that I could consider myself one of them, but I still saw the Hylians first and foremost as my own. What kind of queen would forget such a significant group of her people, the race who pledged their loyalty most closely to the throne of Hyrule?

He was right—that was all there was to it. I was no hero. Link fought for all the races, and in some way belonged to them all: born Hylian, raised Kokiri, sworn Goron, betrothed Zora, trained Gerudo…and I knew that he had allied himself with the elusive ways of the Sheikah as much as I had, though I suspected he did so unconsciously. He had an allegiance with light and shadow in balance, embraced life and death as equal partners in his quest. I couldn't say any such thing of myself.

"I'm sorry," I said softly. I wasn't speaking to Jaret.

"It's all right," he replied heavily. "I took it on. I've been helping the Sheikah whenever I could."

I blinked. "I hadn't heard that."

He raised one eyebrow slightly, but there was no real change in his facial expression. "I can't say that's much of a surprise. The Sheikah keep their tales to themselves, so barely anyone outside our community has heard of me, and you haven't been much a part of the community lately." Though there was no accusation whatsoever in his words or tone, I still heard it. "And, like you, I try to remain as anonymous as possible." That faint smile returned as he added, "They call me the Brother of the Shadow."

"Quite an honour," I said with a nod. "A respectable title for one of our warriors."

"Yes," Jaret agreed. "But you know what would give me more honour?"

"What?" I asked, almost fearfully.

"If I could bring the true shadow back to the shadow people."

Sheikah; shadow people. Sheik; shadow.

I took a step backwards, shaking my head, and Jaret stepped towards me. "No," I said reflexively. "Jaret, I'm—I'm not. You are. I neglected—"

"Be that as it may, you have fought with loyalty for much of the world. The Sheikah respect that you have lent your support to so many, and that you follow the queen when no one even knows if she lives—"

"She does," I interrupted. My old friend stopped, eyes wide, mouth slightly open as his words died. "She does live, Jaret," I repeated. "She—The queen—She will return to the throne. That's what I'm fighting for, and that's what Link is fighting for, above all else."

Jaret didn't move, and there was a long moment during which the only voice was that of the soft wind.

"You said you saw her dead," he finally reminded me.

I glanced down. "I saw… I thought I saw…" I cleared my throat. "But I know now that I didn't," I concluded.

Once more, Jaret remained silent. He knew I was hiding something.

"Do you love her?"

I had to have misheard him. "Do—I'm sorry?"

"The queen. If you know she's alive, then you must have seen her. Spoken to her. And you grew up with her as one of your closest friends, and there was talk of your marrying her even when you were both children… Do you love her?"

"I love Hyrule," I answered evasively.

"Her name is Hyrule."

The Sheikah can find a way to trap anyone in words. They see patterns in silence and sound the way they do in darkness and illumination, and recognize that the meanings of all life are hidden in these symbols. But even Jaret couldn't have known what he was really asking me.

_Do I love Zelda? I wish I knew the answer_.

All I could tell him was the truth, though it was as infinitely painful to confess as watching Hyrule Castle fall to Ganondorf had been to witness.

"I haven't seen her in several years," I said by way of beginning. "And whether I love her…sometimes I think I do," I admitted. "But other times…I don't think I know her well enough to say if I love her or not. Or to say anything about her at all. She's like a shadow sometimes…"

Sheik. Shadow.

"…except harder to understand."

Jaret nodded, and I knew he understood as well as I could let him. A moment of thoughtful silence passed.

It was I who next inquired, "So how about that spar?"

Jaret's ever-serious expression melted into a grin. "So you weren't conveniently ignoring my suggestion."

I shook my head. "Goddesses forbid I should ever turn down a chance to catch up with my friends again."

"I couldn't agree more."

We didn't need to speak to establish the rules; true Sheikah fighting, involving any and all of our arts, but neither of us attacking to kill or to harm. This was exercise, play, and a chance for us to see how each other had grown up. As we fought, we didn't speak; we used our actions to converse in an aggressive dance, and that was all we needed. At least, that was all we needed at first.

Then Jaret asked unexpectedly, "Will you see the queen soon?"

I was in the middle of delivering a high kick, pivoting on my right foot, and nearly twisted my ankle when I tried to stop myself at these words, stumbling to a standing position.

"What?" I demanded, unduly sharply.

Jaret was unperturbed. "I asked if you'll be seeing the queen soon," he reiterated. "Queen Zelda. You know she's alive…Will you ever see her?"

_Link is fighting through the last temple_.

"Yes," I admitted quietly.

_And then the Sages will awaken_.

"Soon?" he pressed.

_And then the Seventh Sage will lead them_…

"Yes," I said again.

…_And all of Hyrule_.

After a moment, Jaret said simply, "Be sure you tell her that she has the loyal support of the shadow people. We hail the rightful ruler. Long live Queen Zelda."

He must have heard my words passed on through the streets of Hyrule.

"Does she have the support of the Brother of the Shadow?" I asked gently, chancing only a pale hint of a smile.

Jaret dared to give a genuine one. "As surely as the has the support of the shadow himself."

He would never know how much strength his words gave me. I grinned and said, "Well, then, now that we've settled that…"

In unison, we moved back into the fight, as swiftly as if our moves were choreographed. But the sun was sinking behind the dunes in the west, and soon we would have to retire to sleep to avoid the antagonism of the Poes that haunted the field by night. Once again in unison, by unspoken consent given in a glance, we dropped the combat to sit on the field and rest.

"You're a good fighter, Sheik," Jaret said, a slight note of tiredness in his voice. "Always have been."

I smirked. "So are you."

"Thanks."

Stars were beginning to wink into sight in the sky, but the night was far from being a cold one. In fact, the fabric which enshrouded my face had come loose during one of Jaret's more aggressive moves, and I was enjoying the cool breeze over skin that only rarely got to feel the touch of air.

Relishing the experience, I brushed my hair out of my eyes to look up at the myriad layers of colour that heralded the arrival of darkness. It was not a sight I had appreciated in many years.

Jaret next to me had most likely known the same deprivation. His eyes looked as though they were absorbing every shade that tinted the world at that moment, savouring the image and saving the memory of it for a time when no such grace was available.

Somehow, the sight of him was just as inspirationally beautiful as the rest of the world.

I didn't notice I was staring until he did, and turned to look at me, one corner of his mouth curving upward into a smile.

"Do I have something on my face?"

Realizing what he meant, I blinked and looked down. "Oh…no."

I wished he would look away from me, but even with my eyes focused on the grass I could tell that his were still upon me.

Momentarily, he asked in a tone of some concern, "Something wrong, Sheik?"

_Stupid question. There's been something wrong for the past seven years. There's been many things wrong for the past seven years._

"No, nothing."

He didn't believe me. I didn't expect that he would when I gave my answer. Why would he? It wasn't true.

But he was smart enough to realize that I must have had a good reason for lying, and so he simply cleared his throat to break the silence before commenting, "Well…I need to go."

That was all. No reason or explanation.

"Yeah. And I should…I have to finish packing up here."

We both rose, and Jaret extended a hand to shake mine. I accepted it, noticing as I did how cold my own skin felt compared to his.

"I'll see you again, I hope," he said, though the statement was almost a question.

"I hope," I echoed.

He didn't seem encouraged by my words.

"I'll remember to tell the queen what you said," I added, changing the subject.

Relaxing slightly, Jaret nodded. "Good."

"Goobye."

* * *

I love my husband, the father of my children, as much as life itself. I can't imagine my life without him, and I wouldn't want to experience such a thing. 

But I do sometimes wonder what would have happened if Jaret had ever known Zelda as well as he knew Sheik.

* * *

Exhaustion was just removed enough from my mind that I managed to complete packing my camp without first stopping to rest. When I was ready to move on, it was after midnight, and so I withdrew into Kakariko for protection. Just outside the town itself, in the bushes and shadows, I slept alone on the grass. 

Sunrise came without disturbing me. On some level I was aware of the sounds of daily life continuing in the background, and on some level I suspect I was even aware that they sounded far more normal and pleasant than they habitually had done of late, but I remained asleep.

It was late morning when a vision came to me, so gradually that at first I didn't notice what it was; I was asleep, after all, so I simply brushed it off as a dream. Then I realized what was really happening, and my body went stiff. I saw the entire scene, unbroken except by changes in speed from normal to slow motion to fast forward. It was hard to follow, but I managed to piece together what was happening into a coherent whole.

Link was jumping on something that looked like a massive drum. No, he wasn't jumping. He was bouncing as two enormous disembodied hands beat the supple ground beneath his feet. There were strange white attachments on his boots which made them look comically like bunny slippers with small wings.

Link was shooting arrows at the hands, while dodging their attacks, so that they stopped in midair. They were big enough to grasp his entire body and crush or smother him if they so chose.

There must have been something else, too, something invisible, because Link was also shooting at what looked to me like simply the empty air between the hands, except that his arrows stuck. He was looking at that empty space through a strange purple and red lens like a magnifying glass.

Whenever he struck in this area, he ran forward and swiped at this invisible thing, his sword flashing as lightning fast as it had done when he fought the twin witches in the Spirit Temple.

Suddenly, it was over; the hands beat the drum in pained spasms, and then lay still upon the surface and melted away. Link must have won.

I was looking at the insides of my closed eyes. I let out a sigh and opened them.

Rauru's voice entered my mind.

::Your Majesty, Link has awakened us all.::

_Your Majesty_… I would have to get used to that title now. ::I know,:: I answered him.

::Where should I tell him to meet you?::

::At the Temple of Time.::

::Very good.::

He must have sensed the strange sadness and joy rising within me, because he added, ::It's almost over.::

::I can finally tell him everything…::

Rauru sounded hesitant, but he said, ::Yes.::

::I'm free. Goodbye, Rauru. Next time I talk to you, I'll be Queen of Hyrule.::

::Goodbye, Your Majesty.:: Again.

I stood up and looked around the remains of my camp. I didn't need it. I didn't need to take it down. I called for Umikae, and he came running shortly. Mounting him, I thought of how I would soon be riding royal horses with proper saddles and decorations, like a delicate lady. As I deserted my Sheikah camp I couldn't help thinking that, despite everything, I would miss Sheik.

* * *

I don't really know why I took my time getting to the Temple; after all, I had been counting down to this day since the age of ten. Maybe I was taking this last chance to look at Hyrule through the eyes of my alter ego for the last time. It was a strange goodbye. It was like a death. I didn't feel like I was a part of this world. One half of me would cease to be within an hour, the other would be creating a new life in a new kingdom. 

I bumped abruptly back down to reality, as I took the long way around Lon Lon Ranch, when I saw a green-clad figure in the distance, on the back of a warm bronze-coloured mare sprinting towards Hyrule Castle Town, a blue fairy zooming along behind. Epona was the fastest horse in Hyrule, and I had never seen her go anywhere at such a speed. I couldn't afford to be too far behind them, so I urged Umikae to go faster, though I hated the idea of spending these last moments in a hurry.

When I left Umikae, I was achingly disappointed, somewhere under the stressful anticipation that consumed me, that there was no time for a proper goodbye.

"I'm sorry…bye…thank you," was all I could whisper, embracing his neck quickly before splashing across the river and into town.

Link had already frozen the Redeads; scanning the market, I spotted him dashing up the stairs to the Temple of Time. I ran after him and came to a stop before the door.

My heart was racing. My whole body was trembling. My stomach was knotted so tightly I thought I was going to be sick. Adrenaline of terror and underlying excitement was searing through me. As long as I had waited for this day, I would suddenly have given anything for it not to have come.

I took deep breaths, but they didn't help. I could think nothing except a single, terrifying idea.

_This is it_.


	17. Cataclysm

**PART THREE**

_This heart still believes_

_That love and mercy still exist_

_While all the hatreds rage_

_And so many say_

_That love is all but pointless_

_In madness such as this_

_It's like trying to stop a fire_

_With the moisture from a kiss…_

_And I hear them saying_

_You'll never change things_

_And no matter what you do_

_It's still the same thing_

_But it's not the world that I am changing_

_I do this so_

_This world will know_

_That it will not change me…_

_As long as one heart still holds on_

_Then hope is never really gone…_

Chapter Seventeen—Cataclysm

I pushed open the heavy wooden door; it moved silently. Link stood just inside the Temple with his back to me, before the warp point, framed by the door and caught in a sunbeam, looking for all the world like a saint preserved in stained glass. My own image was on his back, reflected in his shield. I stared into my own eyes—Sheik's eyes—one last time, before I spoke.

"Link…"

He turned slowly to face me, looking more surprised than I would have expected. Maybe he was reacting to the way Sheik's voice shivered and my own crept into it. Years ago, Sheik had been a different person. Now that had to be the case again. I never would have thought I would have so hated having to let him go.

"Sheik…" he said, his own voice trembling.

We both knew this was the moment we had awaited for longer than we could say. I didn't know where to begin. I closed my eyes and let the words come to begin the tale from where it felt right.

"I've been waiting for this day… There are things I need to tell only to you… Please listen…"

I opened my eyes. Link was looking at me with an intensity in his gaze that I had never seen before, an indomitable determination that was almost startling.

"Of course," he said, his voice surprisingly quiet. "I want to hear everything you have to say. I want to understand you."

Our voices, even softly as we were speaking, resonated through the silence of this place. They always did.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"The day you led Ganondorf into the Sacred Realm, he touched the Triforce."

"I know," he said bitterly. I suspected he didn't like being reminded if his role in Ganondorf's ascent to power.

"He didn't take the entire Triforce."

Link blinked in surprise, taken aback, and moved towards me, in a gesture of faintly desperate hope.

"What?" he gasped disbelievingly.

"There was a prophecy," I began, "that if someone touched the Triforce who had all three of its elements in balance, they would gain the True Force to govern all, and the Sacred Realm would become a paradise."

I paused to breathe, because air for some reason didn't seem to be offering me as much strength as it normally would do. There was so much to say, and I had to be sure I explained it all just right.

"However," I went on, "the prophecy also states that if the one who touched it did not have all three of its elements in balance, they would only take that piece of it which dominated their heart… When Ganondorf touched it, this prophecy came true. He did not gain the True Force, but only obtained the Triforce of Power. The other two pieces went to those two people who had been predestined to hold them, chosen by the goddesses. Now, he seeks those two people, to gain all the powers of the goddesses."

All this was easier to say once I had gotten started. Link was staring at me with his mouth open in anticipation.

"Who…" he breathed, though I could see his mind racing as he weighed the possibilities.

"The one who holds the Triforce of Courage," I continued, "is…you, Link."

His eyes widened and he took in a sharp breath, as though I had confirmed something he had hoped for but not dared expect. Despite myself, I couldn't help feeling mildly amused by his modestly; who else would it be?

But that was the simple part. Everything else was so much harder.

"And the one who holds the Triforce of Wisdom…"

My voice was shaking with more emotions than I had known I could possibly feel at one time…

"…is the Seventh Sage…"

My right hand was burning as it had done seven years ago…

"…who is destined to be the leader of them all…"

I held my hand up to my face; the golden Triforce on it was glowing so brightly that it shone through the bindings that covered it. In a sudden explosion of real, divine magic exceeding my control, the façade shattered.

I stood in a gown fit for a queen, with an elaborately worked crown across my long hair, which streamed down my back in golden waves. I was adorned in the stunning clothes and jewellery of a Hylian Royal, a dress for the first time in years. I appeared before him the way I had always wanted to.

Link looked white, and swayed slightly on the spot. He reached out a hand as if to balance himself against something.

"Sheik…" he whispered uncertainly.

I wanted to smile, but I couldn't.

"No."

"_Zelda_…"

Even after revealing my identity, I wasn't happy. The omnipresent knot of worry, fear, doubt and guilt remained in my stomach; Ganondorf still sat on the throne that belonged to my father… to _me_…

And now I had the freedom and tools to fight him. Now I would _make him pay_.

"Link, I'm so sorry for all of this," I said, a pleading note in my voice. I couldn't explain why I was still shaking, or why I was still terrified. But I wanted him to understand. "It was the only way. When Ganondorf attacked, I thought our best chance would be to give you the Ocarina of Time. I never could have imagined what would happen. I could never have known that you would be sealed away… And…and when Ganon took over, I had no choice but to hide from him. For seven years I've lived my life as Sheik, passing myself off as a son of the shadow people, every minute of every day. I had to lie to you, the way I lied to everyone. But I have always been Princess Zelda…"

My voice dropped off weakly, because Link was shaking his head.

"You're not," he said simply.

"What? No, I—"

"You're…Queen Zelda."

The smile that spread like morning sunlight across his face was one of complete trust and respect, one of a royal knight looking at his queen, but also one of a child looking at his long lost friend. I felt my heart swell with a new confidence that steadied my tremulous nerves; Link had faith in Queen Zelda, just as Sheik always had. And, though I couldn't have said why, his faith was more empowering than any endorsement anyone had given me yet. Together, he and I and all the Sages could do this, and this realization was so great that I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I just smiled back.

How was it that with one gesture, he could erase seven years of dread, rage, grief, terror and anxiety?

"With the power of the Sages, Ganon's reign will end," I explained, my voice now completely calm. "If you help me to render him powerless in this world, we, the Sages, can banish Ganondorf into the gap between this and the next, and from this side, I can use my powers to seal him away. There is only one other weapon that you need…"

Feeling free now that I could use Hylian magic, I conjured before me the mystical Light Arrows, which had the power like that of the Master Sword to defeat evil. They appeared in a flash, hovering between us, then drifted into Link's outstretched hands. He carefully took their magic and slid it into the quiver on his back.

"Those arrows, along with the Blade of Evil's Bane, are the only weapons that Ganon cannot fight against," I explained. "You are the only one who can wield them both, to help me with my task. That is what we must do. The strength of the Triforce of Courage, the Triforce of Wisdom, and all the Sages will be behind us."

"You're coming with me? To the battle?"

"Of course. This battle is as much mine as it is yours, and so we fight together."

"As friends."

I nodded slightly, with a trembling smile. "Always as friends."

Link was still looking at me closely, taking in the sight of me for the first time in far too long. He reached out and stepped towards me, and began to say, "Zelda…I—"

But suddenly the world was shaking, and heart-rending laughter was resounding through the Temple.

"What—?" Link began sharply, bracing himself to fight.

"No…it can't be…" I gasped, my heart seized with furious grief.

_No, no, not now, please, goddesses, why, not now—_

From nowhere, a rose crystal appeared with an echoing _crack_, trapping me inside it. I cried out, and heard Link do the same, but there was nothing either of us could do.

Ganondorf was speaking.

"Foolish princess!" he laughed, though he was also growling with rage. "Seven long years I have waited! I was patient… I knew that if I let this stupid kid wander around, you would reveal yourself to him. And then…I knew I would have you. And look at this—I do." He paused to laugh aggressively, daring me or Link to challenge him. "Decent people like yourselves are so easy to predict. It was only a matter of time…"

A rush of power surged through me, but it was not my own. I was paralysed; the scene around me was confusing and unclear. Link had run forward and was beating the crystal with his fists, and though it trembled under the blows of the power of silver, it didn't give. I could see him yelling, but couldn't hear his words. Ganondorf's voice was swirling, bellowing about the Triforce. Link was staring wildly around, sword drawn, snarling with his teeth bared like a vicious animal, looking for anything to fight.

Then my head snapped back and my body went rigid as another blast of energy struck me. I was soaring up out of reach of Link, who watched in helpless desperation and rage, up towards the roof of the Temple. Ganondorf's laughter echoed twistedly all around, and I felt myself disappear.

Instantly, I reappeared; the world was still swimming vaguely on the other side of my rose-coloured prison, but I was gradually gaining clarity in my mind. After a few moments, I managed to register the scene around me.

A massive, high-ceilinged, square room with huge, golden windows lit by some source so unearthly and haunting that the very brightness of it seemed evil. I hung near the ceiling against the back wall of the room, facing a great door of elegant, dark wood from which stretched a blood red carpet. Following this across the room, I saw below me a grand pipe organ. I recognized this room…

More than seven years ago, lords and ladies and knights and dames of Hyrule had gathered here for balls hosted by their noble sovereigns, my father and mother, the king and queen. Two prestigious thrones had stood where did this grotesque musical instrument now, and there had been ensconced my parents. I had stood at my mother's side. Impa stood off in the shadows, her eyes on me at all times. Couples would dance together gracefully to the strains of music written by the greatest composers in the land, and I would watch them, lost in fantasies of romantic adventures.

Once, when I was very young, maybe six years old, my father had left my mother's side during one such ball and taken me in his arms. He waltzed me all around the room, spinning me to make me laugh. My mother had then joined us, and they had danced with me held between them. I would never forget that music, the sound of my parents' voices, the feel of their warmth through their fine clothes…

Just as I would never forget the last time I had seen this place—when it had been a killing field where Gerudo warriors mercilessly cut down my father's soldiers.

This was the procession hall…

"Don't cry, little princess."

The voice returned me to the present.

Ganondorf.

He was slipping through the door into the room. I don't know how he spotted my tears at that distance—maybe he simply has assumed that I would be crying weakly in fear for myself. At his words, I stopped. Hatred seared my blood.

Watching me, Ganondorf strode grandly across the room. _My_ room.

"I won't hurt you," he said casually. "I need you, after all. As long as you are useful to me, you are safe."

He sat down at the pipe organ and idly beat out a few, low notes. They throbbed through the air.

I wanted to scream at him. To tell him exactly how and why I wanted him to die.

"Likely your boyfriend won't be here for several hours," Ganondorf was now saying, still in that conversational tone, still absent-mindedly repeating that bass rhythm that vibrated against my soul. "There are a few complications downstairs…but I do hope he doesn't give up."

Pausing in his playing, Ganondorf cut through the fading last notes of his music with his own laughter.

"Give up! Oh, how can I even think it? He'll do no such thing. Not as long as he knows I have you…"

Smiling demonically, he replaced his fingers on the keys and continued with his war song.

"I don't understand this power you have over him," he said softly, though I could still hear him distinctly. "He does anything you tell him to. He always has. Maybe he just has no will of his own. Or maybe he's wrapped up in some idealized delusions about destiny and heroism and other such nonsense."

The only sound was the low, ominous hymn. The same few bars, over and over again.

"It wasn't very nice of you to lie to him for so long," he told me abruptly. "Why did you do it, I wonder? Maybe you thought he wouldn't trust you after all your childhood mistakes, or maybe you thought it would be an amusing trick to play? Or… maybe you were hiding? You were scared of me? Yes. Well, I feel I should tell you that in future you'll want to choose your disguises more carefully… Not that there will be a future, of course. The point is, I saw no point in capturing Sheik. Link can live without Sheik. As long as he didn't know, there was no sense in taking you."

He knew. He had really known all along. Those times I had thought I was miraculously slipping through his detection, he had always known.

"Yes… I needed Zelda. Link can't live without Zelda."

_You're heartless, you're evil, you're going to die… Link's going to kill you, I'm going to kill you, we're going to take our world back, we're going to take our lives back… You deserve to suffer, _we're_ going to make you suffer_…

I don't know how long I dwelled on these thoughts. They echoed through my mind as Ganondorf's pounding song echoed all around me. Both reached such a pitch, swelling inside me, that I thought the intensity would make me burst.

Something was happening. I felt it before I heard or saw it; my right hand began to burn in that oddly painless way. I saw Ganondorf glance down at his own right hand and hiss with pleasure.

Then I heard something on the other side of the door, something that sounded like a key sliding in a lock and heavy chains clanking away. Ganondorf played even more heavily on the keys, the tune unchanging.

The door opened.

As soon as Link stepped into the room, I could feel the strength of the Triforce within me, even more pronounced than usual. The three pieces were so close… they longed to be reunited…

"So you have come," Ganondorf said in a low voice. He hadn't turned around, and he was still beating out that same tune. "You have come."

"Yes," Link answered. I had never heard such rage suppressed in his voice. Like me, he must have been thinking of everything Ganondorf had cost him and, and every way Ganondorf was still hurting him.

"The pieces of the Triforce are all here together," Ganondorf continued indifferently. "They are so close, they can sense each other. I am sure you feel it."

Link didn't answer. There was a coldness that was absolutely terrifying written across his face.

"I need all three pieces," Ganondorf was saying now. "If I am to rule Hyrule once and for all, I must do it with the power of the gods. And you…these toys are too much for children like you."

He stopped playing. He rose and faced Link, sweeping his cape around him and holding up his right hand, where the Triforce mark burned with unnatural light. His voice thundered around the room as he cried out:

"GIVE THEM TO ME!"

In the ringing silence that followed, I felt my right hand shaking forcefully against my will as the magic of the goddesses struggled to burst from my. The Triforce image glowed so brightly on Link's left hand that it I could see it vividly through his golden gauntlets. With the soft sound of metal sliding against metal, he drew the Master Sword from its sheath. He spoke with less volume than Ganondorf, but more sheer force.

"You will not win, and you will _never_ rule—Not while the goddesses reign, and I have breath and life to fight you!"

His voice echoed imperiously; this was his fight, and he wouldn't let death itself stop him. Ganondorf clenched his fists.

"So be it…" he growled. "In that case, I will rule very soon. Let us settle this, once and for all, man to man, or, more accurately…man to kid."

With a great sweep of his arm, he cleared everything from the room—including me.

I shouted in protest, though I knew it would do no good. I didn't want to leave Link's side. This battle was as much mine as it was his; I had told him that, and it was true, and I didn't want to desert it. But there was nothing I could do.

I soared up through the ceiling to hover over the turrets and towers of the dark, ominous castle that floated over a pit of lava far more intimidating than Death Mountain Crater. Only one remotely bright thing interrupted the gloom of the blackened landscape, which only the dull glow of the swirling lava illuminated, and it was a shimmering, translucent bridge that stretched from the castle's door to the land. It glittered with magic, and I knew from its rainbow colouring that the Sages had created it for Link.

Not knowing what was taking place was killing me. I was desperate to find out what was happening, how well Link was fighting, what Ganondorf was doing to him. Whatever he said about Link being a mere child, the King of Evil would not hold anything back in battling the Hero of Time.

My ears were straining to make out any noise, but I could hear nothing over the deep roar of the lava below, as though Hyrule herself was growling in displeasure at the war that desolated her. Only occasionally did I see flashes of light crackling in the large windows, and they only increased my frustration. My home was at stake, my entire world, my entire life and identity—This was my battle. And I was shut out of it. I wanted to scream, but I still couldn't move.

Who had attacked? Who had been hit? _What was going on_?

Having nothing else to do, and having to do something to stop from driving myself mad with fear and worry, I prayed.

_Please, Nayru, save him. I, Your daughter, beg You. Please, Farore, save him. He is Your son, and he needs You. Please, Din, save him_…

My thoughts faltered. How could I pray to the goddess of power? It was Ganondorf who had Her essence…but he had taken it by force. So did that really mean She supported him?

No. Of course not. It couldn't be. The Master Sword had been forged to defeat this man. Din could not possibly desire his victory.

_Please, Din… Take Your power back from the one who has stolen it_.

Even as I thought this, I heard something. The sound was so deep that it began as a feeling, resonating through the air like Ganondorf's evil song.

Was I imagining it?

It grew louder… An earth-deep rumbling…

The castle roof… It was caving in on itself…

I was sinking down to the castle… I felt myself regain control over my body as the paralysis slipped away… The rose crystal was melting away…

I landed softly amid the debris of the procession hall that was crumbling around two figures who stood like statues of gods at the centre of the destruction. I watched, unable to breathe.

Link stood, panting with exhaustion so complete that he couldn't summon the energy to wipe the sweat from his brow; limp, beaten, wounded and filthy, but standing. Living.

Ganondorf's arms were extended upwards, his head flung back, his body easily as detrimentally battered as Link's, his breath coming in ragged gasps; but he, too, was standing.

For a moment, a horrifying moment, I couldn't tell who had won. Then Ganondorf dropped to his knees.

"No…" he choked, "I… the King of Evil…beaten by this…kid? … It… can't…"

He clutched at his throat as his words failed him, and, with a last groan of pain, he fell amid the wreckage to lay prostrate at Link's feet.

_Defeated_…

So long had I waited for this day. Now that it had come, I could think of no adequate expression of everything that I felt.

"Finally…" I whispered, feeling the tears rise up within me, "he's…finally…"

Link said nothing. From some unknown place, Navi fluttered down to his side. I hadn't noticed her absence, but he obviously had. He looked up at her, but, finding himself incapable of reacting to her reappearance other than to give the shakiest shadow of a smile, he cast his gaze back down upon the form of Ganondorf.

"He could never have harnessed the power of the goddesses," I whispered, believing it for the first time. "His soul was devoid of the qualities the goddesses seek in their followers, and now…"

"Wait…" Link said softly, his eyes widening slightly. "No…"

At first, I didn't know what he meant. Then I felt it; the ground was beginning again to rumble. My eyes met Link's, and my soul lurched in dread. This could not be happening.

"With his last strength, Ganondorf is trying to destroy us!" I gasped. "To bury us with the castle!"

"What do we do?"

"Run! Follow me! I know the way out!"

"Let's go!"

We ran, but we couldn't go quickly. Stones and chunks of the castle itself fell in a constant fiery rain around us, slipping and sometimes crumbling away beneath our feet. The route was difficult to find, so mutilated was the castle that had once been my home. My clothes, designed for the daily life of a princess, were not suited for running away from a flaming ruin, especially not when I was used to Sheikah gear. Periodically we came across doors that were barred shut by magic, and I had to use my powers to open them; Link followed, urging me on impatiently, at times not dodging quickly enough when something fell towards or even onto him, but not seeming to care about his injuries.

"I'm fine! Just go!" he insisted through gritted teeth whenever I was about to ask if he needed help.

We were almost to the door, passing through a circular room littered with remnants of the once-glorious building, when a ring of fire sprang from the floor itself and encircled me.

"No!" I shrieked in frustration.

Through the licking flames, I saw bones and weapons that had been lying on the floor soar together to form a deadly Stalfos. Link swore loudly as he drew his own sword and shield.

"Get—the—hell—out—of—the—_way_!" he roared, attacking on each word with such brute force and aggression that he was literally hacking the skeleton to pieces. We were all the while losing precious seconds…

The Stalfos crumpled again; Link whirled around with a cry of fury and delivered such a blow to a second Stalfos, which I hadn't noticed, that he cleaved its skull in two. Its decapitated body staggered, Link swung a precisely aimed attack to halve it at the waist, and it fell definitively; so, too, did the ring of fire surrounding me.

"Come on!"

Link was already at the next magically sealed door, shouting for me to hurry, completely unfazed by what had happened.

"Thank you," I gasped, and we ran on.

In the last room, the short entrance hall, I dodged the paralyzing stare of a single Redead, but heard its high, twisted scream a second later. Turning on the spot, a saw that it had frozen Link in mid-stride; he couldn't move, but his face showed the sheer effort he was exerting in resisting.

"Please," I murmured to whoever, mortal or otherwise, was listening, "please, we're almost there…"

He broke free, and was running again. I grabbed up my skirts and sprinted ahead of him, across the insubstantial bridge; there was no time to think about the fact that it didn't look as if it could support my weight. Link's own heavy breathing behind me told me he had escaped, too, just before all sound disappeared in the rising volume of the tremulous, rolling thunder that felt as though it would shake my soul loose from my body.

Link's arm flung across my shoulders as he dove and pushed me to the ground with him. We landed hard on the rocky ground, and I clenched my eyes shut and listened to the earthquake of the falling castle…

Then…

Silence.

_Goddesses help me_…

I didn't want to get up. Now that I had stopped moving, my body began to ache as though every inch of it had been beating. Next to me, I could feel Link pulling himself up to sit already. I heard him rummaging through his supplies and, peering up, watched him drinking from a bottle filled with blue liquid. He briefly gave off a faint blue glow, and when it subsided, he was completely healthy again.

"Here," he said, offering me what was left in the bottle.

"No…thank you," I croaked, managing just barely to shake my head. I thought I would be sick if I tried to stomach anything. "It's over… It's finally over."

I closed my eyes and just lay there, unaware of anything except the pounding pain in every part of my body.

Then I heard Link scrambling to his feet, and his voice, oddly hollow, saying, "Get up, Zelda."

_Oh, please just let me rest_…

I didn't protest aloud, but rolled over and received an electrifying shock that made me jump to my feet.

From the rubble, the utterly destroyed wreckage of the castle, a massive, hulking monster arose. Its eyes glowed evilly, its demonic head was crowned with grotesquely twisted horns, its dark body was carved of rock-like muscle, its long and heavy tail swung behind it in deadly arcs, and it wielded two gigantic tridents; it was sheer power incarnate. It let out a bestial roar, but I knew…

"Ganon," I breathed.

Link stepped forward, sword drawn, and I could see in his face that he no longer desired revenge—he simply wanted all of this to be over, as much as I did. He was striding into this battle because the sooner it began, the sooner he could end it.

Ganon swung his huge body around, and its powerful tail struck Link an unforgiving blow. I let out a cry, clasping my hands over my mouth, as Link flew through the air to land hard on the unforgiving rubble. The Master Sword soared from his grip, whipping through the air and gleaming red against the dying sun, to land point down in the ground at my feet, like the flag of a nation victorious in war.

The Hero of Time recovered quickly from being knocked down; he rolled over swiftly and began to run towards his weapon, but in an instant, flames exploded from the ground, reaching to the sky and mirroring its own fire. They encircled a barren ring, within which Ganon and his lethal tridents could face an unarmed Link, who had skidded to a stop just before running straight into the deadly wall, wide-eyed with shock, and whipped back around to see the monster with which he was now isolated.

Ganon let out a roar of laughter. He would toy with his prey before destroying it utterly. He would make Link suffer before crushing the life out of him.

I screamed in outrage at Ganon's sadistic cowardice, but the protest soon died on my lips; Link was not unarmed. From somewhere within his seemingly endless supply of equipment, he had drawn a blade so long and heavy that he had to use both hands to hold it. Navi, this time, hadn't deserted the battle, and was directing Link's blows at Ganon's thick, thrashing tail.

Though I could scarcely make out the scene through the flames that lashed before me, I heard Ganon roaring with pain once, then again, then again. I took heart in that fact that I heard no cries from Link, until it occurred to me that I wouldn't have been able to hear him.

Torturous moments later, I heard Ganon give a particularly vicious cry, and the flame wall flickered down. Ganon lay struggling to breathe, but I didn't for a moment think this was over. Link was looking around wildly, disoriented.

"Link!" I cried. "The Master Sword is over here! Hurry!"

He didn't need to be told to hurry; his eyes locked onto me, he ran for the Sword and wrenched it from the ground, panting with exhausting, yet finding the energy to sprint back into the battle just as Ganon reared up again.

In the confusion, I could see that Ganon was devoting more effort to dodging Link's attempts to strike his tail. But Link wasn't beaten; he drew his bow and swiftly shot the weapon I had given him. The Light Arrow soared in a beam of energy, bursting with a ringing sound when it struck Ganon in the face. He roared, but feebly, and fell still. Link took advantage of this momentary pause to draw the legendary blade and attack his enemy's tail fiercely, but he managed only one or two blows before the monster found his feet again. It would take time for Link to conquer him once and for all.

My heart was in my throat, pounding with painful intensity.

_He can do it, he can… The goddesses would never have let him come so far only for it all to end here… He can't die_…

Time and again, I saw a Light Arrow strike Ganon's face, saw him fall, saw Link nimbly jump over his enemy's cumbersome body to target that tail, slashing at it with violent blows.

When would Ganon finally fall?

And it hit me; Link did not have the ability to deliver that last, fatal strike alone. He could go on weakening Ganon eternally, but the King of Evil would never really die until the Master Sword unleashed its power on his head instead of his tail. Ganon, of course, knew it too, for he was carefully keeping his head out of Link's reach even when he was weakest.

_Sages_! I thought wildly. I sent out a telepathic message.

Sages! Send your powers! Combine with mine! Send your strength to me to bind the evil monster Ganon so Link can end this struggle!

No thoughts answered mine, but I felt the magic of six others course through me immediately as they all obeyed my call to action. I concentrated the energies of all Seven Sages, and reached out my hands.

Magic exploded so forcefully from me that I went rigid, shaking from head to toe. Opalescent light radiated from my entire body, engulfing Ganon.

"Link!" I cried again, summoning my voice from the tempest of magic that consumed me. "I'm holding Ganon with all the magical strength of the Sages! Deliver the last blow!"

Link stopped in the middle of an attack on the tail. He tightened his grip on the Sword and stumbled towards Ganon's head, slumping with exhaustion, not giving up. I saw in his eyes a renewed desire to end the battle conclusively. Ganon had put him through hell yet again; now he would end it.

It was certainly more than one final blow that the Hero of Time delivered to the King of Evil's twisted new incarnation. Link raised the Master Sword high overhead, then brought it down away with the force of an avalanche. He slammed it repeatedly into Ganon's mutated face, sending blood flying, staining his own clothes without caring; at long last, he drew the Sword straight back before thrusting it straight forward, right between Ganon's bright, demonic eyes. He twisted it before ripping it out again.

Everything was brightness. I continued to focus all the energy of the Sages onto Ganon, onto crushing him into oblivion—

"CURSE YOU, SAGES!"

Light flashing around me—around Link—

"DAMN YOU, ZELDA!"

A confusing barrage against the senses—

"DAMN YOU…_LINK_!"

I felt Ganon slip away, through the barrier separating this world from the next, and I knew that as long as Seven Sages had power, Hyrule was safe…


	18. Dawn

Chapter Eighteen—Dawn

Softness… Gentleness…

Link and I were standing on a cloud, floating, drifting in peace and nothingness. Beautiful, empty space. I couldn't say what world we were in, but nothing was attacking us, and we were both immaculately clean, unwounded, and without a trace of fatigue. We could, for once, breathe freely. It was a small liberty we had not been granted in so long, but now we had it back. Life with which to _breathe_. And we did.

For a moment, all we could do was look at each other. Never had we met at a moment when we didn't both have the weight of the world on our shoulders. Here and now, we were different people.

Link looked much as I remembered him from the time I had spent by his side in the Sacred Realm. His features were more mature and defined, but still easily recognizable. He also looked somehow softer, less like a warrior than usual, although I couldn't say why. His bright hair was mostly concealed beneath his hat, into which Navi darted, but a few locks of it fell into his eyes.

His eyes— They had been oblivious to the reality of life when he was ten, closed in perennial sleep when he was fourteen, and hardened to hide what lay beneath them when he was seventeen. Mine had been the same way every moment I spent as Sheik. We had known each other for years, but never seen each other, never let each other into those parts of our souls that were the deepest and most valuable. This was the first moment in which I had ever looked into his eyes while they were open.

They were large and bright, the shade of blue of a hot summer sky reflected on a clear lake, with slight flakes of aqua like fragments of light reflected through a gemstone. They were expressive when he wasn't guarding them, keeping them steeled so that the enemy would see no weakness. What I saw behind them now was a bittersweet satisfaction, and behind even that, a profound loss. He was mourning for the seven years lost to Ganondorf—seven of his years, but also mine… Hyrule's… Malon's… Saria's…

Seven years of hate in place of happiness.

There was a child in those eyes, but in other aspects of him, as well: his Kokiri clothes, the fairy that followed him, his fidgety shifting, the way he stood so casually. Yet he was also so much older than seventeen, in those eyes and elsewhere: his gauntlets that shone with gold, the physical strength of his body, his sturdy leather boots, the ease with which he always bore his weapons.

He was looking at me closely, sincerely, thinking about me the way I was thinking about him. We made eye contact. I had to be the one to speak first; I had started this. Yet, as always when I spoke to Link, I didn't know where to begin.

"I…want to apologize…for everything."

Though his face didn't change, his eyes betrayed his surprise. The knowledge that I could read Link the same way I could read Impa was reassuring, and I found everything I had ever wanted to say tumbling out of my mouth.

"None of this would happened if I hadn't sent you on this mission… Ganon would never have been able to follow you into the Sacred Realm… You couldn't have known, but I should have, because I knew he knew about you, he knew everything, so I should have known he would have planned for it, and he did, and I sent you right into his trap, and I—"

Here I choked, and felt tears stinging my eyes. I continued more slowly and quietly.

"I forced all of this upon you. I made you do every—everything. I just ordered you around because…I was a princess and I had a hunch. And all that I made you do… It cost you so much… I took seven years of your life…"

Now the tears were streaming down my face. I was at a loss for words; there was no way to apologize enough. The clear image of Link blurred and swam before me.

"Zelda…"

He stepped towards me and wrapped me in his arms. I curled my own arms around him, leaned my head against his shoulder and let my tears stream freely from my eyes to his clothes. Only then did I realize that this was the first time I had ever really touched him, other than rough contact in the middle of a life or death conflict. He was warm; I could feel his strong heartbeat and his slow and rhythmic breathing through the soft fabric of his tunic. I felt a resounding appreciation for the fact that he was a real, living person, not an invincible hero. I realized abruptly the reason he looked so different and vulnerable—the weapons that usually hung on his back were gone.

"Don't blame yourself," he said quietly. "Do you really think Ganon wouldn't have found a way to take over if you hadn't sent to me to the Sacred Realm? This all had to happen. It was destiny. The goddesses created it, and we never could have stopped it. Besides, it's not as if you meant for any of this to happen."

It was true; he was right. Once again, he found the simplest way to make it all better. But he hadn't mentioned the years he had lost. I pulled myself up, though not out of his arms, and tried to regain some semblance of composure. There was only one thing to do.

"Link… I want to give back what I took from you. Give me the Ocarina of Time. As a Sage, I have the power to use it to send you back to when you were ten years old, before all this happened. Please…"

Holding me out at arm's length, Link frowned, looked at me as though trying to see if I was serious. Realizing I was, he reached into his tunic and pulled out the Ocarina, looking at it closely.

Just then, I felt a strange sensation as though I was falling sideways, but stopped, like a dream in which I was falling off a cliff but woke up before I hit the bottom. I swayed slightly on the spot, blinking in surprise, and noticed Link do the same thing.

"What was that?" I asked.

"I don't know," he replied, still frowning. "But…I was about to say, about returning to the past…" He paused thoughtfully, then said, "You know, I don't think it's worth it."

"What?"

That was a bigger surprise than anything that had happened to me tonight. For so long, I had been telling myself that the one thing Link would want more than anything else was his life back. How could that not be true?

"If you send me back, I won't know any of this happened," he explained, crossing his arms casually and shrugging. "So I'm just gonna do it all over again. Destiny, remember? And if I didn't, what would I have to live for for all that time? I'd go back to the forest and be the Boy Without a Fairy again, growing up while everyone else stays the same… I'm not a Kokiri, and I can't live in Kokiri Forest forever."

"You're not a Kokiri?" I asked quickly. Of course, I already knew that, but I still wanted to hear the story behind it.

"No… I'm a Hylian. An orphan. My mother came to the forest when I was a baby. She brought me there because she was wounded. Dying. She left me with the Great Deku Tree, and…"

He cleared his throat and shrugged again; there was a pause during which he stared at his feet and I tried to avoid looking at him, wishing I hadn't asked. Then he continued as if there had been no interruption.

"Sure, there were seven years when I didn't do anything, but I've still done more by now than most people do in their entire lives. I've seen some great places, met some great people… What more could I want? I gave up that time for the greater good. If I hadn't, we wouldn't be standing here. It would probably be the end of the world right now. The end of both of us, too."

His words reminded me of what Nayru had told me in the Sacred Realm just before my fourteenth birthday.

"Are you really sure?" I asked.

Link smiled. It wasn't his usual mischievous and friendly smile—there was some sadness, some wisdom of experience behind it—but it was close.

"I think I know I thing or two about time travel."

I couldn't help smiling back. "Can't argue with that," I admitted. I noticed that the knot in my stomach, the stress of trying to save the world, disappeared only then; in its place came a warmth of contentment and peace with life.

"Okay… Let's go back to Hyrule."

We exchanged a look of mutual understanding as he handed me the Ocarina of Time. I played on it a song which would return us home…

* * *

Blue light and soft wind swirled around us. I felt myself floating, and though I couldn't see where I was, I knew Link was beside me.

* * *

When it all faded, we alighted where we had left Hyrule—standing atop the rubble that Ganon had once ruled. All of Link's weapons lay there as well; the Master Sword shone with divine light.

"There's still so much rebuilding we have to do," I said heavily as Link gathered up his equipment.

"Yeah," he agreed, though he didn't seem too concerned. "Ganon sure left a mess. Ah, well." He slung a fraternal arm across my shoulder and grinned in such a way that I couldn't help returning the expression. "We can do it."

Still, I sighed heavily as I looked out over the destruction, the smoking ruins of my home, and fingered the Ocarina in my hands. It was horrible.

Standing there with Link, though, I felt inexplicably happy.

"Yeah," I agreed, a smile twitching on my lips. "We can."

He took the Master Sword from where it lay and looked at it sadly. "This needs to go back to the Temple of Time," he informed me, and I heard in his voice that he would miss it; probably it was a friend to him by now.

Together, we walked through the still dark town at the foot of Hyrule Castle, ignoring the Redeads, and entered the sacred silence of the Temple of Time. The three Spiritual Stones still hovered over their places, humming with power. Beyond them, we could see the Pedestal of Time, the resting place of the Master Sword. I watched as Link slowly approached it alone.

Holding the Sword in his left hand, Link stood solidly before the Pedestal. He drew the weapon up, pointing it towards its pedestal, grasped the hilt with both hands, and thrust it full force into the stone. He jumped out of the way as though electrified the instant it was in place.

A column of blue light shot up from the Sword's resting place, growing so bright that I closed my eyes and shielded them from it. When it faded away…nothing had changed. Link lowered his arms, which had been blocking his own eyes, and reached out to give the Sword a gentle tug. It shifted in his grip.

"You try," he instructed me.

I stepped forward and pulled on the blade; it didn't move. Link nodded approvingly.

"It's still there if I need it," he said. Looking over at the Spiritual Stones, he added, "We should give those back, too."

"To whom? The Sages are all in the Sacred Realm."

He was already walking over to pick them up. "This one," he said, lifting the emerald, "belongs to the new Deku Tree Sprout. This one," the ruby, "can go to the new Big Brother of the Gorons, Link."

"I've met him," I said with a laugh.

"Oh, yeah? He's a nice kid. Cool name. And this one," he continued, picking up the sapphire, "I just cannot wait to return to King Zora…along with my apologies that I have to break things off with his daughter."

I laughed again. "It's really a shame that didn't work out."

Link snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, certain qualities about us just clash. Our personalities, for one."

"Your respective species, for another," I pointed out.

"True," he agreed with a nod. "Anyway, I'll deal with these, and you'll…?" He raised an inquisitive eyebrow in my direction.

"Rebuild my castle," I replied promptly. "And start rebuilding my kingdom. It's time for me to give up the life of a Sheikah."

"Did you want your seven years back?" Link asked unexpectedly. "You know, so that you could live as a princess and not as a Sheikah?"

It was an interesting question; I had never thought about it seriously, only in moments when I wished vengeance against Ganon. In truth, I couldn't say that I wasn't glad of the chance I'd gotten to be free from Royal obligations and constraints, but it had come a heavy price.

"The only part of the last seven years that I want back," I replied quietly, "is my mom and dad."

After a pause, Link said, "You have no idea how much I wish I could understand how you feel."

* * *

Within months, Hyrule was unrecognizable. My castle stood proudly again, and the town beneath it was filled with the bustling activity of a thriving nation. The changes for the better, which Sheik and the Hero of Time had initiated under Ganon's nose, suddenly flourished under the supervision of myself, Queen Zelda of Hyrule, and Sir Link, Supreme Commander of the Hylian Armed Forces.

The Deku Tree Sprout began to grow prodigiously. Link returned the various Kokiri weapons he had borrowed and moved out of his old tree house, Navi became the guardian fairy of another child, and Mido made amends with his childhood enemy. Link kept his Fairy Bow, however, and still liked to visit the forest often. All the kids loved to see their biggest friend.

Link the Goron settled into the role of Big Brother to the Gorons with some difficulty at first, but with my guidance he got the job under control. I became his Sworn Sister and, informally, his advisor. Link the Hylian returned to him the Megaton Hammer of his ancestors, exchanged his Biggoron Sword for a high-quality, non-magical replica of the Master Sword, and accepted the title of Hero of the Gorons to add to an ever-growing list.

King Zora was not at all offended when Link returned his engagement promise along with his boomerang; in fact, many of the Zoras themselves were relieved that Ruto would never become their queen, because she had given up her crown for her duties as a Sage, though they didn't dare admit it aloud.

In the west, anarchy reigned. Some supported Nabooru and some supported Ganondorf, but neither was there to take power, and so I stayed clear of them until they chose a side. In the end, a woman named Evashina, whom Ganondorf had chosen to be his acting representative in times when he was away on business, took over. This, unfortunately, meant that the Gerudo were now our enemies. Link turned in his membership to their band along with the Mirror Shield and Silver Gauntlets, but kept the Ice Arrows. Those he had stolen fair and square, he told me.

When everything settled down, Link moved into the house in Kakariko that had formerly belonged Impa. Outside the public eye, for he was obviously quite a celebrity now, he and Malon finally got to pursue a relationship that had been too long delayed. He confided in me that as long as he knew he still had his weapons where he could reach them and he could retain some of his Kokiri culture and personality in a world of Hylians, life was good.

Making the adjustment was slightly harder for me. Living a lie for seven years had caused me to forget what it was like to be a member of high society. The few servants who had escaped the slaughter of Ganon's Coup returned to my loyal service in a heartbeat, but they did look at me strangely when I started to do things for myself, or when I spoke casually to them. When I was in a temper, sometimes I even muttered angrily in Sheikah and used words that no one would expect to hear from the mouth of a young lady raised at court. All in all, I knew they said behind my back that I wasn't the princess they remembered—I was better…if a little weird.

One day, for example, a servant named Anika came into my bedchamber and saw me making the bed.

"Your Majesty?" she asked hesitantly. It took a moment before I realized that she was speaking to me, and blinked in surprise.

"Oh!" I stood up straight, brushing hair out of my face, and smiled at her apologetically. "Sorry… Yes?"

Anika stared. "I just wondered… Would you like me to do that for you?"

"Wha—Oh, of course!" I laughed. "By all means, go right ahead!"

As I left the room, I understood something I never had as a child: the reason nobles always spend so much time having tea with each other and playing parlour games. It's because they have nothing else to do.

"Well, if the worst thing about ruling a peaceful country is that I'm bored, I can't complain," I reminded myself.

In the long term, I knew I would need a hobby, something to combat the boredom that was bound to return far too often. I couldn't remember ever having been bored as a child, but I suspected that was simply because I had been so keen to learn everything about the world that there was always something for me to pursue. Now I had seen enough of the world.

This thought led me to pursue something else—myself. I would learn exactly who Queen Zelda was, and, ironically, I decided that the best way to do so would be to reacquaint myself with the arts that were so near to Sheik's heart.

Meditation was an integral part of Sheikah life, both in active forms such as martial arts, and in passive forms. Since a queen couldn't very well participate in the former on a regular basis, I took to spending time by myself to engage in mental exercises; I would regulate my body, my thoughts, and in this way move closer not only to myself but to the goddesses' love. My favourite place to do so was in the first place I had rebuilt after reclaiming my castle; the garden I had always loved as a child. Indeed, I spent as much time meandering through my gardens and grounds, all of them, as I did attending to royal duties. I was quite proud of myself for recreating the nuances of the world I remembered from simpler times, by carefully nurturing each detail personally. In a way, the symbolism of this act helped me to purge my memories of guilt, remorse, and regret. Aim towards the future rather than the past.

Of course, the past does not like to be left behind so easily.

There was one day when I was strolling slowly through a simple hedge maze featured as part of the inner grounds, examining its walls. I came to a halt at one corner, where a few stray twigs were growing too long, and absentmindedly began trying to brush them into the bush. At least, I began absentmindedly; when the foliage refused to cooperate, I became more adamant to make it do so.

"The leaves never grow as any mortal wills them to…even a queen."

I knew that voice. It wasn't Link.

_It can't be_…

As I turned around, I said carefully, "Hello, Jaret."

I'm sure only another Sheikah could have recognized that the expression on his face at that moment was one of surprise.

"You know my name?" he inquired.

Realizing my mistake, I rather lost my elegance as I said awkwardly, "Yes. Well. Sheik told me about you."

Jaret nodded, apparently satisfied with this. "Can I assume he gave you my message, then?"

For a strange moment, I couldn't think of any message, and I actually wondered if Sheik had forgotten to tell me something. When I realized how bizarre such a thought was, I wondered why it had come to me. I never did devise an answer that satisfied me.

"Oh," I said when I had recovered from my own confusion. "Yes, he did. Thank you."

Jaret nodded briefly, with a short bow. "I merely wanted to come and ensure that all was well with you, Your Majesty. And…to see you. To lay eyes on the monarch I have pledged eternal loyalty to."

I felt the heat rising in my face, and turned my gaze back to the hedge; it would not be becoming for a queen to look down before her vassal. "That's very noble of you," I spoke up momentarily.

"Have you seen Sheik lately?" Jaret asked unexpectedly, tilting his head inquiringly.

"Yes," I replied immediately. Backtracking, I corrected myself, "That is…I've heard from him. I've not seen him personally."

Something like a smile crossed Jaret's face. "Then you are not married?"

Again, I was momentarily bewildered—why did he care if I had a husband?—until I realized what he meant.

"Sheik does not desire to have a wife," I told him truthfully.

"Not even to have you?"

Once again, I was certain I was blushing, and to detract attention from my own embarrassment, I commented tactfully, "I don't believe it is the usual habit of Shadow warriors to be so flattering."

And, once again, I knew it would have taken a Sheikah to read his face. This time, it plainly showed his discomfiture.

"I—I simply mean to afford the necessary respect to my queen, Your Majesty," he stated, bowing to ensure a professional appearance.

"Don't worry," I assured him; for the first time, I was relaxed. Enough so to tell him what I had never before known I had to. "Jaret," I began, "when I spoke to Sheik, he told me about your last meeting. About how you have become the hero of the Sheikah. I want to commend you for it."

Jaret opened his mouth, no doubt to say something appropriately modest and elusive, but I continued.

"My kingdom has its hero, its saviour, in Link. But there are things he cannot understand and cannot do. He had limits, like all mortals. Besides that, I want each race in Hyrule to be able to live independent of me. I don't want them to have to look to me for all their crises. A good leader is one who can help the people to lead themselves. Further even than that, I don't want any one people to be subordinate, to me or two anyone else. It is the tradition of the Sheikah to pledge their lives to the Royal Family of Hyrule…but I don't want that. I want the Sheikah to pledge their loyalty to the Sheikah, I want them to have their own heroes, their own world, in peaceful harmony with the other five races of our world. I don't want my castle to be filled with Sheikah servants fawning over me.

"Jaret… I want you to go back to your people. To be their hero. You and anyone else may pledge what fealty to me or anyone else that they wish. But I will require no service of you."

Throughout my speech, his eyes moved over my face as though seeking to understand what I wasn't saying. When I fell silent, he apparently arrived at the conclusion that I was speaking truth. A moment of silence passed between us.

"In that case," Jaret finally spoke up, "know that whosoever gives their loyalty to Hyrule gives it unto you, myself included, and if your wishes be that we live out lives as we see fit…"

"They are."

"Then we shall do so. And I shall serve the Sheikah."

I smiled, not only with happiness but with relief. "I will never fear for them as long as I know you are with them."

Jaret nodded, offering me a smile of his own, and took a step backward. I knew when he raised his hand that he was about to disappear, but then he stopped himself.

"Your Majesty… Where is Sheik?" he asked simply. "He is not with any Sheikah band. And if he is not here…"

"He has gone out," I invented. "Out into the world to seek justice and injustice, to learn, to explore." I shrugged. "To be a shadow."

This contented Jaret. "I see."

As he disappeared in a flash, he said, "Goodbye."

I looked at the spot where he had stood for several long seconds, before I blinked, shook my head, and turned my attention back to the shrub.

It would never grow in as orderly a manner as its predecessor had done. It _wasn't_ its predecessor. And really…I liked it better this way.

* * *

It took nearly a year for me to become comfortable in my rebuilt castle and lifestyle, which had flaws and features that had never been a part of my days as princess. Though I eventually managed to adjust to the dramatic change, I remained convinced that my true identity lay somewhere between the Queen of Hyrule and the survivor of the Sheikah.

Link and I often discussed those years, and all the difficulties that had come before, during and after them. We agreed that, while this state of peace was best for Hyrule, a little action now and then would make life more interesting. Our shared beliefs and experiences, combined with our mutual telepathic connection, made us close friends. We became so close, in fact, that the rumour mill designated him my future husband. Link said these rumours were good for a laugh, as long as Malon knew they weren't true, and I agreed.

The goddesses had been right; I was a better queen for having gone through all I had. And a better person.


	19. Morning

Epilogue—Morning

Link still frequently comes up to the castle to practice on our training grounds. He's perfectly welcome to any time, so much so that he has his own key to the grounds so that he can come even when I'm not home. Usually he visits when I am at the castle, though, because he knows I like to watch and live vicariously through him. The martial arts are, after all, an activity even more inappropriate for a queen than making a bed.

Today, he's training with his Fairy Bow. His sword is on his back, because he says it throws him off to be without it, and he's wearing his Zora Tunic, because Malon says blue is his best colour; "It brings out his eyes." He wears his Zora Tunic a lot.

All that's really changed about his hero appearance, besides the fact that I formalized it by knighting him and putting him in change of the military, is that he's grown into it. He doesn't look like a ten-year-old in a seventeen-year-old's body anymore. Instead of just being cultivated for destiny, he's worked for those muscles. Plus, he's added a tattoo of the red bird insignia of the Hylian Royal Family on his right arm. He told me that he got it to symbolize and stand as a reminder of everything he values; I think it's to add to the tough guy image he started with the earrings, so that no one can see what a softie he is underneath all the weapons.

He's never without his hat, even though he doesn't need it as a home for Navi anymore, because he's used to it. That's what he says, anyway, but I know it's because he misses having a fairy partner. Malon still calls him Fairy Boy. I still sometimes call him Hero; he's adopted as a last name now, because it just makes sense.

Link calls me Zel; he only uses my full name if he's annoyed, and he absolutely never calls me "Your Majesty." Everyone else calls me by some title or another. Even the Sages do, because I'm their leader. Only Impa has a nickname for me, and even that's a title: Princess. Sometimes, but only in telepathy, she or Link will call me Sheik. Most of Hyrule has either forgotten Sheik or accepted his disappearance. It fits in with his persona, after all. We've all decided it's for the best that no one learn the truth. Besides, I don't think anyone would believe Sheik is sitting here in a light green satin dress and heels, golden hair streaming down his back and topped with a golden crown. A perfect lady.

"Hey, Zel!" Link calls, snapping me out of my reflection. "C'mere!"

No one else would dare speak to a queen in such a direct manner, but that's why I like Link. I approaching, asking, "What is it?"

He glances furtively around, then holds out the bow to me. "For old time's sake?"

"Oh, thanks, but I can't."

"Yeah? Who's gonna stop you?"

"No, I mean I don't know how."

Link's face goes blank with incredulity, then he snorts disbelievingly. "Next you'll be telling me you don't know how to ride a wild stallion bareback."

I laugh slightly. "Sorry, Link, but it's true," I shrug. "I don't know how to shoot a bow."

He narrows his eyes suspiciously and thinks at me, ::Sheik doesn't know how?::

I shake my head. ::Archery is not one of the arts of the Sheikah.::

"Well, then, you'll learn. Here." He presses the bow into my hands. I open my mouth to protest…but why should I?

"Sure," I agree with a devious smile. "Let's see how I do without Hero's help."

I've seen him do it enough times. I try to copy his sharp, strong actions; my first shot hits the target, satisfyingly close to the bull's eye. Smirking, I turn proudly to see Link's reaction.

"Impressive," he says, nodding. "But you'd probably be better…"

"If?"

"If you weren't shooting left-handed."

Shoving him playfully, I laugh, "No criticizing the queen!" and swipe another arrow from his quiver. I reverse my actions this time, and the arrow lands even closer to the mark. Link ducks away as I reach for more arrows.

"Get your own, Queenie! I shouldn't have introduced you to this!" He tries to keep the quiver on his back out of my reach.

"Shouldn't have, but did. Too late. Gimme!"

"What happened to 'please'? I thought you were raised at court to have manners!"

"I though you were raised in the forest not to care!"

We chase each other around the grounds, laughing. We're still kids, after all, making up for seven years of lost time. But we know we have all the time in the world—because there's hope as long as the goddesses reign.

_And I hear them saying_

_You'll never change things_

_And no matter what you do_

_It's still the same thing_

_But it's not the world that I am changing_

_I do this so_

_This world we know_

_Never changes me…_

_What I do is so_

_This world will know_

_That it will not change me…_


End file.
